Survival of the Hunted
by RoseO0o-3
Summary: Now that the world has turned upside down and the dead prey on whatever is left alive, well, the only thing left to do is survive, right? OCs needed. Rated M for language and gore.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Don't own shit.**

Rated M for language and gore.

A/N: Hey:) Thanks for checking out my story:) Just letting you know, before I waste your time, that so far, I'm doing this story on a whim since TWD is on tonight:P So don't like it, don't submit.

Now for the OCs. I'm not sure how many I'll take, so just go for it. The more original your character, the better. This will not be first come, first serve. Seriously, I'm expecting some pretty sick characters so don't be afraid to let your imagination go or be over the top. That may pretty much guarantee you a spot. You may submit more than one if you want your characters to have a friend or something like that. Keep your characters appropriate please, this fic would be T if it weren't for the language and gore, so if I could not get a rapist sent in here, tha'd be great:) (Unless it's to make your character interesting, then I might consider it) Before I forget, I want you guys to vote on whether the OCs should join Rick's group or be a group of their own and if you want, meet Rick's group at some point.

Okay, that's all, shoot!

Name (Nicknames):

Age:

Gender:

Appearance:

Clothes:

Personality:

Leader?:

Place in the group?:

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Weapon:

Past:

Views on Walkers:

Your vote:

Others:

Scale of 1-10 (1= lowest)...

Bloodlust:

Innocence:

Humanity:

Insanity:

Temper:

Hope:

Thank you for your submission. Enjoy what's left of your day.

Rose


	2. The Real Chapter 1

The group jumped as a series of shrieks echoed through the woods. "Oh God," Lori whimpered as everyone darted towards the noise.

"Mommy!"

"Carl!" Lori yelled as she raced with everyone down the hill where Jacqui and the children were running out to greet them. Carl and Sophia were swept up by their mothers as Jacqui pointed further down, where a Walker was feasting off a dead dear. Rick and the other men approached it carefully, weapons in hand.

As soon as the walker noticed them, they beat it down until Dale managed to decapitate it with an axe. They relaxed and caught their breath. "That's the first one we had up here," Dale informed.

"They must be running out of food in the city," Jim pondered.

A rustling came from the bushes behind them. They turned and held up their weapons as Daryl and a young woman came into view.

The woman had dyed her hair deep red with purple tinges at the ends. She has deep blue eyes that complimented her pale white skin. She wore a leather jacket over her dirty plain white T and had on black ripped jeans and red Converse. Strapped securely on her body was a regular book bag.

"Son of a bitch," Daryl cursed. "That dear was mine."

"It was, til you slipped up and let it get away," the woman commented.

"You sayin' this is my fault?" Daryl questioned accusingly.

"I didn't say that," she dismissed and turned away from him. Daryl growled as he retrieved his arrows and kicked the Walker's limp body. He bent down and looked at the deer.

"Think we could cut around this chewed up part, right here?"

"Not unless you want to die," the woman remarked.

"Now that's enough Victoria," Dale told her, thinking it better that Daryl wasn't already pissed off when they told him about his brother. Victoria scowled but was quiet.

"We caught some squirrel. That'll have to do," Daryl passed the meat to Jim. As he did so, the decapitated Walker head began to move again.

"Ew," Amy recoiled and was led away by Andrea.

"Come on people, what the hell?" Daryl said and raised his crossbow at it. Before he could fire though, the Walker head was already split in half by a M48 Ranger Hawk Axe. Victoria smiled sadistically as she dislodged the axe from its head, creating a sickening gushing noise as fluid ran out from the wound.

"T'ch," Daryl scowled and put away his weapon.

Everyone began to walk back to camp. On the way, Victoria caught sight of Rick. "Who the hell is he?"

Dale held up his hands, "I'll tell you later."

Victoria made a line with her mouth and continued on to the camp where Daryl was calling for his brother. "Daryl, I need to talk to you," Shane stated.

"About what?"

"About Merle," Shane anticipated. "There was a problem in Atlanta."

Daryl paused. "Dead?"

Shane shook his head. "We're not sure."

Now, Daryl spoke up. "He either is or he ain't!"

Rick stepped in. "There's no easy way to say this so I'll just say it."

"Who're you?" Daryl demanded.

"Rick Grimes."

"Rick Grimes, You got something' you wanna say to me?!"

"We left your brother hand cuffed on a roof."

"You left him there?!" Daryl yelled. He lunged at Rick who dodged. Shane tackled Daryl, but he recovered quickly and pulled out a knife. He tried to attack Rick again but was overpowered by the two. Rick explained what happened and T-Dog told his side to the story.

"Jut' tell me where e' is, so I can go get 'im," Daryl ordered.

"I'm going back," Rick declared.

"So you and Daryl? That's your big plan?" Lori asked doubtfully. Rick turned to Glenn. Glenn groaned and took off his hat, letting his fingers run through his hair. "Fine," he said, putting his cap back on.

"Well that's just great. Now you're gonna risk three men huh?" Shane condescended.

"Four," T-Dog announced.

"And one woman," Victoria added.

"Just gets better and better," Daryl scoffed at the two.

* * *

The five of them raced up the stairwell and busted through the metal door as soon as the chain was cut.

"Merle!" Daryl shouted. "No!" he shouted as his brother's severed hand. "No!"

"Holy shit," Victoria breathed.

"This is your fault!" Daryl turned on T-Dog with the crossbow.

"Shut up Dixon!" Victoria called his attention and pointed to a trail of blood. Daryl huffed and stepped away from T-Dog. He quickly retrieved his brother's hand and stuffed it in Glenn's bag, ignoring the younger boy's grimace as Victoria began to track Merle's trail.

The Atlanta crew entered a nearby building, quickly coming across a Walker. Victoria smiled as she took out her axe, however, Daryl shot the Walker before she could get any further. She gave him a dirty glare in response. The group walked further in and found two Walkers already taken out.

"Only needed one hand to take out these two sons of bitches," Daryl commented.

"That's Merle for you," Victoria complimented.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Rick asked.

"Victoria. I thought we went through our introductions on the way here," she replied skeptically.

"She traveled with them," Glenn answered. "They aren't related but when we all joined up, she came with the Dixons."

Rick nodded while Victoria mouthed an 'oh'.

"Merle!" Daryl called.

"Hey! Quiet, we're not the only ones here," Rick silenced him. Once he did, noise could be heard coming from a nearby room. Everyone exchanged glances.

"Merle?" Daryl tried again, "That you?"

They approached the door and listened. By now, the noise had completely stopped. Rick and Daryl prepared to move in, but Victoria beat them to it. "This one's mine!"

She flung the door wide open, axe raised, and came face to face with startled copper eyes. The teenage girl flinched automatically and clutched onto a large, furry object. The girl had dyed her hair to a silver and wore an odd outfit consisting of a cut out back, designed and decorated, lilac leotard and brown shorts over it.

Victoria lowered her weapon and moved aside for the others to see. The girl cowered away from them and clutched harder on the unknown object, causing it to move. Sensing it's masters fear, the animal quickly jumped to its feet and let out a loud growl.

"Holy shit! Is that a lion?!" Glenn exclaimed, as he and everyone took a wary step back.

* * *

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this first chapter:) It was very canon and very short, I know. Trust me, it was really only for this chapter. With the new OCs, things are going to change:) Possibly for the better;D

OCs are still being accepted but not many slots left. If you want to boost your chance of getting picked, choose a boy! I only have the female race…

And who has been keeping up with TWD? Are the writers _trying_ to kill our hearts?! Because mine can't handle it! D'X


	3. Chapter 2

Daryl pointed his crossbow at the beast, ready to shoot if it should move in the slightest. Upon seeing this, the strange girl put herself between her lion and Daryl, hugging her pet close. Rick reached his arm out over Daryl's weapon and pushed it down. Daryl obliged the gesture as Rick cautiously stepped closer to the two.

"We don't mean any harm," he raised his arm in a surrendering way. The girl stared back at him with fragile eyes before she let out a small nod and whispered something into the lion's ear, causing it to relax and roll on it's side. The Atlanta group relaxed and the girl stepped forward.

"Who are you?" Rick asked. The girl looked down, not saying anything. After a moment she mumbled out, "Roe."

"Roe? What are you doing here? Where'd you come from? Where'd you get that lion?" Rick questioned.

"You seen my brother?" Daryl interrupted, gaining a warning glare from Rick. Roe looked down again.

"I haven't seen anybody. Circus. We came because of the loud alarm," she replied softly.

"Waste of my time," Daryl muttered and began walking away. Rick called after him, but was ignored.

"I got him," Victoria said as she followed him into another room. Rick turned back to the girl.

"Now, you said circus? Did you come from the circus?" Rick asked as he put Roe and her pet together. Roe nodded.

"Is it safe?" Glenn asked quickly. "I mean, he won't eat us, right?"

Roe tilted her head to the side before she realized he was talking about her lion. She trotted next to him and pushed his mouth open, sticking her head inside. She looked at the others for approval.

"Guess you have it," T-Dog told Glenn, who ran his fingers through his hair again and agreed.

"Wait Dixon!" Victoria's voice echoed as Daryl entered the room, more upset than usual and Victoria following him.

"What happened?" Rick jumped to prevent any trouble from arising. Victoria huffed angrily and let Daryl go ahead.

"Merle cauterized his stump and practically jumped out the window," Victoria reported angrily. Rick took this information in and told Victoria to retrieve Daryl.

"We're going after him," he told the others.

"Nu-uh. Not without those guns first. I'm not going around those streets with only my good intentions," T-Dog protested and Glenn agreed.

"Okay," Rick approved and turned toward Roe. "You coming with us?"

Roe nodded and beckoned her lion to follow them out.

* * *

"No," Rick protested as Glenn presented his plan.

"Look, two people is too much. We stand out. Going alone has the best possible outcome," Glenn explained. "I don't like it either."

"Distract," Roe piped up and pointed to a place on the sketched map.

"No, we are not using someone as a distraction," Rick dismissed.

"I can. Be safe," Roe defended, surprising them.

"I'd feel a lot better if someone else had the Walkers' attention," Glenn supported and added a piece representing Roe to his map. "It's a good plan."

Rick sighed and looked Glenn in the eyes, giving in. "Alright I trust you."

* * *

"So how do you think Roe is going to distract the Walkers?" Glenn asked Daryl and Victoria as he tried to shake off his nerves. At the same time, a loud whistling could be heard. The three of them stuck their heads out and looked at the direction of the noise, seeing Roe balanced upon a cable above the street. Glenn's mouth dropped as Daryl and Victoria chuckled.

"Maybe having a circus freak isn't so bad," Victoria commented. A bunch of growls began down the street, growing louder as the Walkers came near. The three of them ducked back in the alley and waited for the Walkers to pass.

"Go," Victoria ordered and Glenn ran out.

Roe hummed to herself as she sat on the cable above dozens of Walkers reaching up for her. She scanned down the street, looking out for any signs of Glenn. Instead, she only saw trouble. From around the corner, a blue car pulled up and let out three guys who spread out over the street, carrying weapons.

Roe whistled loudly again to signal the others, but also ended up gaining the attention of one of the men. The young man strode towards her, gun in hand. Roe panicked and ran back to the safety of the roof where her lion who waited for her return patiently. As the vato came nearer, Victoria and Daryl shot out from the alley and jumped him. Victoria growled as she ripped the gun from his hands and Daryl dragged him back in the alley.

"Ayudame!" the young man cried for help before Daryl roughly covered his mouth. With Roe no longer posing a distraction, the Walkers homed in on the muffled sounds of a struggle. The two other men came back into view to assist their friend, but ran back to the car as they saw the small horde of Walkers.

"What happened?!" Rick demanded as he and T-Dog ran up to them from the back of the alley, the same time as Roe and her pet came through a backdoor. Rick spied the struggling man and then looked around.

"Where's Glenn?" he asked as fear caught in his throat.

"Hey!" came a familiar voice. The group turned around, seeing Glenn wheezing at the end of the alley. "I thought I said to not abandon your post!"

Just as he was about to reunite with them, the blue car pulled up behind him. Vatos poured out of the car and attacked Glenn. Glenn froze, dropping the bag of guns and Rick's hat.

"No!" Rick roared as he and the others ran to help. Glenn was stuffed into the car and the other people pooled back in. One went to retrieve the bag of guns, but was shot in the ass by Daryl. The man cried out in pain and was pulled into the car before it sped off with Glenn shouting for help.

"No!" Rick called after him again.

"You son of a bitch!" Daryl cussed and tried to attack the man who had ruined their plan. T-Dog held Daryl back while Victoria restrained the young man and shoved his face in the ground angrily.

* * *

"Where did they take him," Rick asked, deadly serious.

"I ain't telling you nothing," the man spat.

Daryl stomped over to Glenn's bag and pulled out Merle's hand. "Wanna see what happened to the last guy that pissed me off?"

He tossed the lifeless hand into the man's lap, making him jump in fear. "That's all that's left of him. Our kitty cat here got too full," Victoria added menacingly as she gestured to Roe's lion which just so happened to be licking it's lips at the time.

"He hasn't eaten in a while," Daryl played along. Rick moved Daryl aside and faced the frightened man. "They took our friend. All we want to do is talk and see if we can work something out."

Victoria took up a small rock and secretly threw it at the lion's head, making it roar, just as she had wanted.

"Down Mica," Roe scolded.

"Better make your decision fast," Victoria smirked, taking in the lion's name. "Mica gets mad pretty easily."

* * *

The group entered the Vato's territory for the second time now, since the deal from the first time. Now, the group was at a stand off with the Vatos, except for Roe and Mica who were sneaking in from behind. Rick released their hostage and shoved him towards Guillermo . "You have your man, now I want mine."

Guillermo looked down on them in anger. "You know what? I'm gonna feed your boy to my dogs. They're the evilest, nastiest, man-eating bitches you ever saw."

"Yeah? Then we'll feed you to our cat," Victoria smiled, gaining laughs from the rest. The hostage tried to warn Guillermo, but only made incoherent muffles through his gag.

"Your cat?" Guillermo asked incredulously.

Rick looked past Guillermo and smiled. "Yeah, our cat."

Guillermo and his gang turned towards where Rick was looking. There were shouts of surprise as all the men stepped back from Mica. Rick and the others took this opportunity to catch a few of them by surprise.

"On the floor," Rick ordered Guillermo, who he had caught. Guillermo clenched his teeth and went down on his knees, hands behind his head. The other three men that had been caught by the rest of Rick's group followed suit. A chorus of guns clicking was made as Guillermo's gang readied their guns.

"Stop," Roe's quiet voice rang out in the dead silence. From behind her, an elderly woman hobbled over. The woman stopped for a while to pet Mica before she was taken by the hand by Roe and led into the potential gunfire.

"Felipe!" she called.

"Abuela! Go back with the others!" One man ordered.

"Who are these men Felipe?" the woman ignored her grandson. Upon seeing Rick's uniform, she shook her head. "Oh, don't arrest these men. They're nice boys."

Rick lowered his gun. "I'm not arresting them. They're helping me find a missing person, Glenn."

"The young man?" the abuela asked. "Come, I show you."

"Safe," Roe told Rick as he debated whether to follow the woman and lose the upper hand.

"Come, come," the abuela let go of Roe and clung to Rick. Rick sighed and let Guillermo go as he allowed himself to be led away, the other members of his group reluctantly doing the same. Guillermo also gave in and ordered everyone to let them pass.

The abuela led them through a garden. Guillermo went up to Roe and stopped her. "The lion doesn't go any further. Not everyone is as ill as theold woman. They'll panic at the sight of him."

Roe nodded in understanding and found a place for her and Mica in the sun. The rest of the group was led into a building. As they all went down the hall, they saw dozens of elderly being assisted by nurses or some of the men they had had a stand off not even five minutes ago.

The abuela led them to Glenn just as promised. "What is this?" Rick asked him.

"Asthma attack," Glenn answered as he looked sadly over to a patient.

"Man, we thought you were being eaten by dogs!" T-Dog exclaimed. Glenn made a weird face and looked over at the three Chihuahuas lying peacefully in their bed. Rick turned angrily towards Guillermo as they went to another room and Rick scolded him for his stupidity.

In the end, both groups made peace and a fair exchange.

* * *

The rescue group had been running back to the camp for the past hour, desperately trying to reach their destination, feeling that their missing van was an omen. The omen proved to be true as screams and gunshots filled the air. The group picked up speed. Roe swept her small frame up on Mica, pulling on his mane, signaling him to run faster. Mica obeyed and ran ahead of the group that was preparing their weapons as they ran.

Mica roared as he leaped into the battlefield. Roe gave him another order and Mica pounced on the nearest Walker, crushing it's head in his powerful jaws. Mica picked himself up off the Walker and continued to do the same to others.

Meanwhile, Rick and the others charged in with a storm of bullets. As the other four continued with their guns, Victoria took our her axe and became much like Mica, taking down Walkers in a near animalistic way. She saw a Walker go after Carol and her daughter. Victoria growled in anger and hit the Walker in the head from behind, continuing to do so mercilessly. As she took her hatred out on the Walker, she didn't sense the other Walker approaching from behind.

As the Walker was about to bite her, Daryl had put a bullet through it's head. "Careful, little redbird."

Victoria calmed down at her nickname, given to her by none other than the Dixon brothers. She nodded and she and Daryl went back into the frenzy.

As soon as it had begun, it ended. Those that were left alive clung to each other as if they'd end up dead if they didn't.

* * *

…

Begin Transmission

…

"Trevor here," a man introduced as he peered into his camera. His transmission continued on, however, the camera's signal was weak and only picked up random pieces. As it received another small transmission, it revealed a woman to have joined Dr. Jenner on screen. The woman was pale in color with bright grey-greenish eyes and a small, black, slanted bob that gave view of her pierced ears, one much more pierced then the other. She wore a dirty, grey shirt and black leggings over her slender build. In addition, she dawned on a red hoodie with blue vans with a book bag.

The camera seemed to skip her conversation with Dr. Jenner for as soon as the camera managed to catch her, she was already storming off screen, obviously upset with something. Jenner ignored her, looking tiredly at the camera and filled his cup with wine. He toasted the camera and chugged down the red wine before turning off the device.

…

End Transmission

…

* * *

A/N: Thank you to my two beloved commentors:)

So does anyone else absolutely love Michonne?

Rose


	4. Chapter 3

Victoria panted heavily as she stood in a hallway full of dead Walkers. She cupped her hands to her mouth, making a gagging noise as she saw the bloody mess in front of her. Not an hour ago, she had passed the students from her college when she had been going to class and now they were dead.

She took a steadying breath and gritted her teeth to keep her from throwing up. As her survival instincts kicked in, she spied an red axe tucked away in a glass case reading *USE IN CASE OF EMERGENCY*.

The glass shattered as she shoved her elbow in. She reached past the jagged edges and removed the axe. At the same time, a growling came from around the corner, the Walker having been attracted by the noise of the glass. Victoria backed up as the Walker came into view. As it closed in on her, Victoria could only watch in horror. What was that thing?

"S-Stay back," Victoria warned, backing away, but the Walker only continued forward. Victoria was about to warn it again based on the ridiculous notion that this may be a real person. However, before she could, she tripped over one of the fallen corpses, followed shortly by the Walker.

Victoria desperately tried to keep the Walker away from her. The Walker tried to bite her, making it so the only thing she could see was the inside of it's mouth. Victoria, disgusted, turned to the side, spying a corpse beside her. She took in the large gash on it's head and did the same to the Walker, grimacing as she tightened her grip on the axe and blindly swung it at the Walker. She felt the body on top of her go limp and she looked up, finding her axe to have hit the Walker dead center.

Victoria shoved the thing off her and tried to calm her erratic heartbeat. What the hell was happening?

* * *

Victoria picked up speed as she neared the house she grew up in. After her incident with the Walker, she had escaped her college and stolen a car, intent on going to her family's home in Atlanta. On her way there, she had been stopped by a road block where she snuck away and traveled the rest of the way on foot, managing to avoid a majority of Walkers.

"Mom?! Sam?!" She yelled as she burst through the open door to her old house.

"Mom?" She ran past the kitchen and stopped suddenly as she spied her dead mother next to the stairwell. Once again, she had to hold back the vile in her throat, however, a few tears escaped her.

She regained her composure, focusing on the one person who should be left in the house. "Sam?"

"Sam," Victoria tried again, fearing that he would be dead as well. She stepped in the living room, calling for him again. As she checked behind the couch, the wooden floor creaked from beneath her, followed by a whimper.

"Sam?!" Victoria yelled as she looked madly around the room.

"Vicki!" a boy's voice wailed.

"Sam!" Victoria cried as she remembered an old hiding place she and her brother used to play in, a special place beneath the floor boards.

Victoria ripped the floorboards away, finding a small boy curled up inside.

"Sam!" She exclaimed in relief, reaching in and taking her brother up in a tight embrace. She kissed his head as he cried into her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Sam! It's going to be okay," Victoria held back tears as she cradled him in one arm and held the axe in the other. She went around the house and down the stairs, where the belongings of her late father were stored. She put Sam down and threw open a brown chest, pulling out a sniper rifle and strapping it on. She was about to go back up with her brother, but stopped as she saw a M48 Ranger Hawk Axe in the back. If it weren't for the days events so far, Victoria would've smiled.

Victoria went back up with her brother, covering his eyes as they passed their mother and entered the kitchen. Victoria shuffled through the cabinets until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out a plain back duffel bag full of emergency survival supplies. She swung the bag on her shoulder and picked up her brother. "Sam, it's time to go okay?"

Sam sniffled and nodded. She kissed him one last time and kicked open the door. As soon as they were out in the open, the two were bombarded by three Walkers appearing from behind a house. Victoria put Sam down and grabbed her axe.

"Stay there and don't look!" She ordered as she faced the Walkers. She screamed as she hit one in the face, killing it. One. Another tried to grab her as she pulled her axe out of the Walker's head. She kicked that Walker away, sending it to the ground. She swung the axe down, grunting with the force. Two. Where was the third one?

A shrill cry rang out, causing Victoria to turn on her heel, just in time to see the third Walker chomp into her brother. "NO!" she shrieked and threw the axe, gaining a perfect head shot.

She rushed to her brother, who had now begun to bawl in fear. "It's okay, Sam," Victoria said with tears in her own eyes. She pulled out a first aid kit from the duffel bag and began treating her brother.

* * *

"Sam?" Victoria's voice cracked as she called out. Her brother laid on his bed, unmoving. "Sam?"

Tears streamed down her face as she could no longer contain them. She cried for hours before she felt the bed shift. She looked up with red eyes and saw her brother looking back at her with dead ones. She choked back tears as she realized what had happened.

"I love you, Sam," she said shakily as she leaned in for a kiss. Sam growled and went for her neck, but Victoria was faster. She had already pulled back and killed him.

Her form shook as a new wave of tears threatened to fall. Victoria bit them back and wiped her eyes. She stood up with a deadly expression on her face. She tucked in her brother and treated it like it was bedtime, turning off the lights and wishing him goodnight.

She made her way downstairs, preparing her stuff. She swung open the front door in a similar fashion to as she had done before. She walked down the street and turned to one of the neighbors houses. Like the last time, Walkers came out from behind and this time Victoria was ready.

She sunk her axe into the first Walker, feeling joy as she killed it. Such sweet revenge…

"Hey girl!"

Victoria spun towards the voice, seeing two rednecks not too far away. The smaller (and more handsome) held a crossbow up and shot the other Walker's down. Victoria growled, upset that she couldn't no longer exact her revenge. "Those were mine."

The elder laughed heartily. "No wonder a girl like you's survived up 'til now."

"You don't hafta get your panties in a twist. The city's full of 'em. There'll be more," the other said.

"And who the hell are you?" Victoria defended.

"I'm Daryl. And this is my brother Merle. Merle Dixon."

"Nice to meet you," Victoria said insincerely.

* * *

The Atlanta group piled out of their line of cars as they pulled up next to the CDC. What they saw wasn't what they imagined. The CDC had been built into a fortress like they hoped, however, the fortress seemed to fail as there was dead bodies littered all across the lawn.

Still they went on.

"Stay in a group and stay quiet," Rick instructed as everyone crept up to the entrance, covering their noses from the smell. Mica whined from the odor and Roe quickly shushed him.

Inside, Jenner was alerted to their movement and watched as they approached.

"Kathryn!" he called, still in disbelief. "You gotta see this!"

The girl from the webcam walked in with her arms folded and a cross expression, apparently still mad from the other day. She approached the screen, just as the Atlanta crew began to panic and argue with each other.

"Survivors," she breathed, slightly shocked as well.

Jenner looked on in fascination. Shane began to move the group back to the cars and Jenner instinctively moved the camera. This was caught by Rick, who approached the door again and began begging for entrance as more Walkers stalked towards them.

Jenner opened the doors as Rick was pulled away by his best friend, leaving the group stunned.

"Come on," Rick ordered, being the first to recover from the shock. The others quickly came to as well, grabbing their supplies and rushing inside. They made sure they were safe before taking a look around.

"Hello?" Rick asked.

His question was answered by the clicks of two guns. Jenner and Kathryn appeared from a hallway, Jenner with an automatic rifle and Kathryn with her 9mm pistol. The Atlanta group held their guns up to them on instinct.

"Anybody infected?" Jenner asked.

"Naw," Rick replied.

"What do you want?" Jenner inquired.

"A chance," Rick said hopefully. Jenner looked over the group hesitantly before lowering his gun, "You all submit to a blood test, that's the price of admission."

"We can do that," Rick agreed.

"Kathryn," Jenner said, turning to her. "You help me close these doors."

Kathryn gave him a dirty look before she reluctantly stashed her gun away and did as he said.

"Rick Grimes," Rick introduced himself and his group.

"Dr. Jenner," Jenner said. "And this is-"

"Kathryn," Kathryn introduced curtly.

* * *

For the first time in a long time, everyone was having fun around the dinner table.

"Come on Glenn, let's see how red your face gets," Daryl joked with Glenn as he poured himself a drink.

"Is that a challenge, Dixon?" Victoria cut in, smiling mischievously.

Daryl grinned and matched her mood. "Think ya can beat me, Little Red?"

"We'll find out," Victoria smirked as two shot glasses were placed in front of them.

"Alright, alright, alright!" Rick interrupted. "Before we go on, it seems we haven't properly thanked our hosts."

The others agreed and toasted to Jenner and Kathryn. Kathryn had now warmed up to the group and smiled at their thanks. "No, thank you. You have no idea how thankful I am for your arrival. Now I have someone else to talk to besides some bum scientist."

The others laughed as Jenner drank to the insult.

"So then why don't you talk," Shane began, seriously. "What the hell happened here? To everyone else?"

The room became quiet as Shane killed the mood. Kathryn studied him in wonder, finding him not to be like the others. He wasn't content on not knowing and instead, partaking in a fun dinner. 'Smart guy,' Kathryn noted.

"They died," Kathryn answered him, taking a drink of her wine. "Couldn't handle this new world."

"It was a dark time," Jenner added.

"Dude, you are such a buzz kill," Glenn complained as everyone silently finished off their plates.

* * *

"Damn, no rooms left?" Victoria muttered as she checked the last room. No one was there, but was obviously claimed.

"Is there a reason you're standing outside of my room?" a voice asked her from behind. Victoria turned to see Kathryn, looking at her with a mix of suspicion, confusion and amusement.

"Uhh…There wouldn't happen to be any more rooms are there?" Victoria asked.

"No," Kathryn answered, taking Victoria's bag and bringing it into her room. "You can bunk with me."

"Thanks," Victoria smiled as she went inside. Victoria removed her sniper rifle from her back and set it down gingerly.

"You can sleep there," Kathryn told her, pointing to a bed on the other side of the room. Victoria nodded and flung herself onto it, smiling to herself. A real bed! When was the last time she slept on one of these?

"Nice isn't it?" Kathryn smiled slightly. Victoria looked up, confused.

"I mean, here. This place is a haven compared to out there," Kathryn elaborated.

"Yeah," Victoria agreed. "So how long were you out there?"

"Long enough," Kathryn answered bitterly. Victoria bit her lip and looked down, realizing that was a bad question.

"So, are you and that guy together?" Kathryn changed the subject and smiled.

"Who? Daryl?" Victoria asked surprised, a light blush beginning to form. She looked at Kathryn, catching the mischievous glint in her eyes. 'Oh, she's joking.'

"Well, he isn't that bad," Victoria kidded, resuming her previous behavior.

"Really? Because you two seemed pretty friendly at the dinner table," Kathryn teased.

"Well, what about you and Jenner?" Victoria challenged. "Only been you two in here for a while now. Nothing happened?"

"No," Kathryn's mood dropped again and Victoria mentally smacked herself. "I could never fall in love with someone like him."

"I already found my soul mate," she added a few moments later. "Too bad though, because some undead bitch found him too."

Victoria looked down sadly again. "I lost my family…"

Kathryn said nothing. The heavy silence loomed over them, until they both decided to go to bed.

* * *

The next day…

"Few people ever got the chance to see this," Jenner announced as he showed them a playback of TS-19. At the moment it was shown when the test subject died and Jenner explained it, the group silently mourned.

"Are you saying that's what happens to people? Our people?" Rick asked sadly.

Jenner looked them all over, noticing a few were far more distraught than others, and then he found himself not being able to say anything.

"Yes," Kathryn spoke up. Victoria looked to her and saw the same look on her face from last night.

Jenner no longer faced the sad faces and continued to explain the rest of the process up until the second time the subject died.

"You don't know anything about it, do you?" Andrea asked. Once again, Jenner couldn't speak.

"He doesn't have the answers you're looking for," Kathryn substituted.

"Maybe he doesn't, what about others? Another organization?" Jacqui tried.

"He doesn't have the answers you're looking for," Kathryn repeated, her tone becoming harsher.

"So there's nothing out there? No hope?" Andrea questioned again. No one replied.

"Man, I'm about to go get shit-faced drunk again," Daryl dismissed, almost leaving until Dale spoke up.

"Now, I hate to ask you more questions, but that clock is counting down. Why?"

Everyone turned to the clock, then to Jenner, including Kathryn, who didn't know the answer this time. 31: 28

31: 27

31: 26

Jenner hesitated, "The basement generators run out."

"And then?" Rick asked. Jenner said nothing.

"What happens when the power runs out?" Kathryn addressed Vi and sent a glare at Jenner.

"Facility wide decontamination," a robotic voice answered. A moment later, the lights went out and flickered back on. Jenner let out a long sigh as he knew what was coming up.

"Emergency power supply is now in use," Vi reported.

"What's happening?" Glenn asked, just as surprised as everyone else.

"The power is failing," Jenner replied.

"Facility wide decontamination?" Rick guessed. By now, every single one of them was on edge and Jenner didn't help by keeping quiet.

"Everyone grab your stuff, we're leaving NOW!" Rick ordered. The group followed instructions, each trying to remain calm.

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

A loud alarm went off, making people either jump or scream and sending them all into a panic.

30: 00

"Go!" Rick shouted. Jenner, the only calm one remaining, turned away and punched in a code that sealed all the exits, trapping everyone inside. Jenner ignored their shouts of panic and hurriedly began another webcam. Daryl stormed up to him, shouting a stream of curses.

"Hey! Shane!" Rick yelled. Shane got the message and held Daryl back. As Daryl hogged all the attention, Victoria silently, but angrily strode up to Jenner and smashed the computer screen. Now, she was held back.

"Jenner, open that door now," Rick hid his rampant emotions and forced himself to be cool.

"I can't. Everything's been locked down," Jenner proclaimed. "Besides, it's the computer that controls the doors. I can't do anything about it."

"It's better this way," he tried.

"How do we know that? What happens at zero?!" Kathryn demanded. Jenner clammed up again, causing Shane to shout Kathryn's question at him again.

"Do you know what this place is?! WE'VE PROTECTED THE PUBLIC FROM VERY NASTY STUFF! WE'VE WEAPONIZED THINGS YOU DON'T EVER WANT OUT, EVER!" Jenner could no longer take the pressure. "In the case of emergency, the system will make sure that nothing can get out. In other words, this whole place goes up in flames with no survivors."

Carol and Sophia began to weep while Rick and his family held onto each other. Others, like Dale and Roe, looked on in horror or fear. Meanwhile, Victoria and Daryl smashed more computers.

* * *

5: 26

"All we want is a chance," Rick pleaded.

"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this," Carol cried.

"Don't you think it would be kinder?" Jenner continued to make it sound hopeless.

"This isn't your choice. How dare you take our choices away," Lori said stonily.

"You think we want to die? Pleasantly?" Victoria seethed. "Well, then hell, if we wanted to die pleasantly, there wouldn't be people begging and fighting to get out!"

"If we weren't going to try and live through this world, we would've opted out by now," Dale said in a fatherly tone.

Jenner looked down at his folded hands and found them to be shaking. He got up and punched in the code for the interior doors. He shook his head as he looked Rick in the eyes. "I can't open the outside doors."

4: 21

Rick went up to him, "Thank you."

Jenner shook his head again and whispered something in his ear.

"Rick? Rick!" Lori called from the hall where the everyone had gathered. Rick left Jenner and went up to the group.

"I'm staying," Jacqui declared.

"What?" T-Dog asked, sounding heartbroken.

"I'm sorry, baby, I can't go back out there," Jacqui claimed. Shane patted T-Dog on the back and they went ahead with most of the others leaving only a few behind.

"I'm staying too," Andrea announced to those that remained.

"No," Dale refused. "No, you can't."

"Hey! Victoria!" Daryl yelled from the hallway, seeing her lingering with the others. He gripped her roughly, "You ain't stayin'!"

"I'm not!" Victoria shoved him off her. "But Katie?"

Kathryn refused to look at her.

"I'm not letting you stay," Victoria stepped closer.

"Just go, Tor," Kathryn said. "I'm not going."

Daryl began pulling her away. Victoria hesitated for a moment before running away with him.

* * *

At the top floor, everyone was attacking the windows madly.

"Rick! I have something that might help!" Carol ran up and retrieved a grenade from her bag.

"EVERYBODY DOWN!" Rick shouted as he set it near the window.

"Crap!" He yelled as he flew for cover from the blast.

* * *

Dale looked up as he felt the room shudder with the blast. He looked back at Andrea, who refused to move, although he had named off every reason for her to go. He rubbed her cheek, "Okay, you win. If you're staying, I'm staying too."

"Don't do this Dale," Andrea begged.

"No, you don't get to come in to someone's life, make them care, and then just leave! You can't do that!"

Andrea looked down and cuddled up into a ball. Kathryn did the same, holding herself tighter and holding back the tears in her eyes.

* * *

The blast had attracted all the Walkers in the nearby area. Mica and Roe sped ahead and cleared the path while, the others covered the rest of the group.

Victoria and Daryl viciously attacked the Walkers, taking out whatever anger was left on them. Others used their guns freely, not caring if they drawed in more Walkers by doing so. Everyone loaded into the cars and were ready to speed off.

"Wait!" Lori pointed to the CDC, where Dale along with Andrea and Kathryn escaped from. Victoria let out a sigh of relief and smiled.

The three of them got safely into the cars just as the CDC was destroyed in a fiery explosion.

* * *

A/N: Hi:) I hope you enjoyed this chapter:D Thank you to my new readers, and my old;) Who's excited for tomorrow? ;)

Comments:

_Always Dean's Girl-_ (CH. 1 Review) Phew! That's a relief:) Especially if I got their comedy:D And thank you very very much! It is very much appreciated: )))

(CH.2 Review) Yes! Don't worry, I know 3's are supposed to be hearts 3 ;) Ah, I'm sorry for melting your heart…Thank you ^.^ I hope it wasn't too much:)

_The Salvatore Winchester-_ Haha, I thought the same ^.^ As am I!

_BrownEyedRascal-_ Right?! My baby! Neither do I, it's impossible!

_PopGoesDarylDixon-_ Thank you!~ I'm glad:D No, I don't believe Roe will be involved romantically with anyone. Exactly! If you're interested, you could make an OC:) Oh and has anyone ever told you that your screen name actually gives me a visual? *shudders* I don't want that to happen to Daryl...

:)

Rose


	5. Chapter 4

**Warning: Character Death**

Roe pretended to walk on a tight rope, spreading her arms out and walking daintily on her tippy toes as she walked through her home, a traveling circus. At the moment, everyone was completing small preparations for tonight's show. Roe kept out of their way as she entertained herself.

"Hey!" someone called. Roe looked up, meeting the brown eyes of a boyish girl, her best friend. Cindy had run away from her dysfunctional home and got a job there cleaning up after the animals.

"Come on!" Cindy pulled Roe and led her away. "I've never been to Atlanta before! Have you? I can't wait to look around!"

Roe only smiled her response. Just before they left the circus grounds, they were stopped by the ring master. "Hey, you two! You're not out to have fun, you're there to pass out flyers."

"Yes sir!" Cindy saluted and took a stack of flyers, passing half of it to Roe and the two of them ran out.

They didn't get very far however. They stopped as a couple of figures loomed out in the distance. One of them was being pursued by a group, but was being cornered.

"Oh God," Cindy stared in horror as the person was attacked and began to be eaten alive.

"We have to help her!" Cindy yelled. The two of them moved forward but froze as screams rang out behind them. They turned slowly, staring back at their home.

They both stood there, neither knowing what to do. Cindy turned back towards the direction of the assaulted woman and screamed. The things that had attacked the woman were now coming after them.

"Sh-Shit! Come on Roe!" Cindy yelled as she and Roe ran back home. By the time they ran through the entrance, the screaming had stopped and it was hauntingly quiet.

"H-Hello?" Cindy called as Roe clung to her side. A growling response came and the two turned to see a clown with its intestines falling out stumbling towards them.

They both shivered at the sight and ran into one of the tents. Cindy dragged Roe to a crate and shoved her inside. "Get in and be quiet!"

Roe did as she was told and allowed Cindy to encase her in the box. In the total dark, Roe was left to rely on her hearing. What she heard was only the scuffling of feet and inhuman growls. Roe curled up and covered her ears, eventually falling asleep.

* * *

Roe winced as she woke up, every muscle in her body creaking from being in the cramped space. Roe shuffled around in confusion before she remembered last night. Roe rubbed her eyes sleepily and yawned. That was a dream wasn't it? But then why was she in a box?

Roe pushed the lid off and slowly got out. Her muscles ached. Roe performed stunts, her muscles cracking back into place as she went through the quick exercise consisting of tricks that took years of training to accomplish. She sighed happily and practically skipped out the door flap.

Looking around, she saw the circus was a dead zone, far from its usual liveliness. Roe began to get scared again. As she turned the corner, she saw a bloody stain on one of the tents and that's when she knew whatever happened wasn't a dream. She wandered around the deserted grounds, finding nothing but the remnants of a bloody massacre. As she reached the last encampment, there was a shuffling coming from inside. Roe nervously opened the door. Inside, one of the circus lions was walking around in circles. The lion had its mouth stained with blood and around it were a bunch of dead bodies with their heads crushed.

The lion turned toward her and growled threateningly. Roe held up her hands and stood still. The lion continued to growl until it decided she wasn't a threat. It made its way up to her and sniffed, calming down significantly as it breathed in the scent of a real human and not dead meat. Roe hesitantly put her hand on its head and brushed through its mane.

* * *

Roe smiled and walked through the camps again with Mica following her closely. All of a sudden, Mica turned and roared savagely. Roe yelped at the sudden noise and turned to Mica. She followed his gaze and gasped. A Walker looking exactly like Cindy limped towards them. Mica lashed out, swiping the Walker across the chest, but that hardly mattered. Roe fell back with tears in her eyes as Mica pounced on the Walker and tore into its head.

* * *

The Atlanta group stopped, having been blocked by an overturned truck and a mass of other abandoned cars.

"Can't go any further," Dale frowned. Everyone got out of the cars and gathered.

"What are we going to do?" asked Carol.

Rick rested his hands on his hips and looked out past the cars. "We'll gather supplies. There's probably a whole bunch. Restock our resources and get back on the road."

"Cool," Victoria said as everyone fanned out. Victoria noticed Kathryn lingering behind and pulled her along with her.

Roe was searching through one of the cars when she felt Mica tense next to her. She turned her attention to him, taking in the Walkers he was growling at. Roe quickly shushed him and led him away towards the others.

"Walkers," she told Rick.

"Christ," Rick exclaimed and they both warned the others.

"Get under the cars," Rick ordered. Roe, however, pulled Mica to her and made him get in the back of a truck since he was too big to fit underneath. She climbed in with him and closed the door.

Kathryn ducked under a car while Victoria took out her axe, ready for the fight. She felt hands grab her from behind and groaned. She tried to wriggle out of Daryl's grip, but he wasn't letting go.

He pulled her under a truck beside him. Once they were safely hidden, Daryl threw her a heated look of disapproval. Victoria glared back, but relented as she crossed her arms and huffed.

* * *

T-Dog desperately tried to get away from the group of Walkers following him. Since he had cut himself on one of the car doors, he couldn't hide and the Walkers had all caught the scent of fresh blood. It wasn't long before they began to give him chase and now he was a long ways from the group and getting worse. The loss of blood was making him weak and he could see his vision go black around the corners.

With every step he took, he could feel himself going slower and getting weaker. T-Dog felt a sinking in his chest as he realized he wasn't going to make it, but, he kept on going. He chuckled to himself, knowing that if he kept pushing, he wouldn't have to feel their teeth tearing him apart.

He turned his head to them, dragging himself along. "You bastards ain't getting me alive."

'I'll see you soon Jacqui,' he thought as his legs crumpled beneath him and his breathing slowed. He looked straight ahead and smiled.

"Hey Jacqui," he greeted as he envisioned her kneeling before him. "I been thinking if I should of stayed with you then. It- it hasn't been the same without you. I should of stayed with you."

Jacqui caressed his cheek and kissed him. "It's alright baby."

T-Dog closed his eyes and smiled.

'I love you,' was his last thought as he passed away peacefully, just before the Walkers swarmed him.

* * *

Sofia screamed as lagging Walkers came after her. She climbed out from under the truck and escaped into the woods.

"Sofia!" Carol cried, attempting to follow her, but had to stop as she attracted more Walkers. Daryl, Shane, Roe and Mica came out of hiding and quickly slayed the Walkers as Rick and Victoria ran after Sofia. The two shared a look as they both thought the same thing.

The two of them quickly spotted Sofia being pursued by the two Walkers. Rick and Victoria dashed off the other way, catching Sofia as she ran into them. Sofia screamed as they grabbed her.

"Shh! Shh! It's okay," Victoria comforted the frightened child as Rick picked her up.

They ran down to a small pool of water. Rick quickly spotted a cave in the embankment to hide in. He pushed in Sofia and beckoned Victoria to stay with her.

"Take her back to the others, Victoria," Rick put his trust in her as he led the Walkers away. As soon as they were out of sight, Victoria and Sofia came out of hiding.

"Come on!" Victoria encouraged as she helped Sofia out and they ran back.

* * *

Rick took a deep breath as he regrouped with the others, glad that the frenzy of the Walkers was over. As he came closer though, he quickly noticed something was wrong. Carol began to bawl as she saw him followed by a very confused Daryl.

"Where are they?" Daryl asked as Rick came within range.

"Oh God," Rick breathed as he realized the two girls never made it back.

* * *

Everyone watched as Andrea argued with Dale.

"Andrea, I-," Dale tried, but she had enough. Andrea stormed ahead, leaving behind a disgruntled Dale. Glenn patted his back and then left with everyone else on an expedition to find their missing members.

"Come on y'all," Daryl said, leading the way, incredibly anxious to find them.

About half an hour into it, church bells rang, taking over the chirping of birds. Daryl immediately headed towards the sound, leaving behind the others.

Rick watched him, becoming concerned for his behavior. He nodded to the others and led them after him.

"Is that it?" Rick asked as they caught up to Daryl, finding a white church in an open field.

"Can't be it, there are no bells," Shane observed.

"Worth a shot," Rick went ahead. Shane, Rick and Daryl approached the doors with caution. Rick counted to three with his fingers and they threw open the doors, but there was nothing inside. The three men stepped in hesitantly, surveying the area.

Rick turned outside to motion the others in, but froze as he saw three Walkers were just about to grab the unknowing group from behind.

"No!"

The others turned, coming face to face with them, just before their heads were smashed in by a crowbar.

"That was close," an unknown man commented as he looked over the group. The Atlanta group studied him back in return. He seemed to be in his early thirties, standing at 6'1. He had brown hair, a light skin tone that brought out his deep green eyes, and was lean and muscular. Probably from kicking Walker ass.

He wore a black leather jacket, black tee with dark jeans and Doc Martins.

Shane stepped forward, aiming his gun at the man. The man became serious and held up his hands. "Hey now, is that any way to treat a guy that just saved part of your group?"

Rick clenched his jaw and found the stranger had a point. He lowered Shane's gun, making him back off.

"Thank you. We didn't catch your name," Rick began.

The man relaxed a bit as he introduced himself. "Benny."

"Alright," Rick said, "You seen two girls running around here?"

"No, I'm sorry. I-," Benny stopped as he laid eyes upon Daryl. "Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle. That you, Daryl?"

"Aww shit," Daryl muttered as he was embraced by Benny.

"Good to see you," Benny grinned, oblivious to Daryl's annoyance.

"You two know each other?" Rick asked.

"Went to school together," Benny answered, slinging an arm over Daryl's shoulder. Daryl scrunched up his nose and shrugged off his arm.

"Come on, he ain't helping us find them," Daryl stomped away.

"Now, hold on Daryl," Rick brought him back. He pulled him over to him and Shane as they huddled together.

"I can't let the others go any further. It's too dangerous. We'll give them a break and then send them back."

Daryl angrily walked away but stayed within the area. Meanwhile, Rick told the group of his intentions, to which they agreed and began to settle down.

Kathryn huddled against the wall of the church, listening in on Shane's conversation with Lori. Shane was going away?

Her head snapped up as she heard the crunch of twigs nearby. Shane had just rounded the corner and saw her sitting there, listening. Shane froze for a second before deciding to walk away with Kathryn staring after him.

As Shane trudged off, Rick took the new guy to the side.

"Look, I hate to say it, but you turned up at a bad time and I need to know that we can trust you."

Benny placed a hand on Rick's shoulder, "I can see you have a family here to protect. I'm not going to ruin that."

Rick chewed on his lip. "I'm going to need more than that."

Benny let his hand drop to the side as he pondered what to do or say. He wanted to stay with them. And then it hit him.

"You said you were looking for two girls?" He asked, fishing around in his pocket. Rick anticipated what he was taking out and sighed in relief as he saw the object.

"I found this not too far from here," Benny offered the doll to Rick. Rick smiled thankfully and patted Benny on the back as he split the group up to continue the search. He, Benny, Daryl, Shane, Roe, Mica and Carl stayed behind to continue searching while everyone else returned to the highway.

* * *

Mica and Roe walked protectively next to Carl as the other four men walked ahead. Mica's ears flicked to the side as he heard a noise. He whined as he alerted Roe to a nearby presence.

"Rick," Roe called and pointed in the direction that Mica had noticed activity. Whatever was there made more noise, taking their attention. The group moved closer until they were able to identify it as a deer.

Carl had an awed expression as he stepped closer. Mica suddenly growled as he heard another noise, but the tragedy came too fast.

Boom!

Carl was suddenly thrown back by the force of a bullet, blood spraying out of his initial wound. Beside him, the deer lay bleeding and dead.

* * *

A/N:

Hello everyone. I'm sorry for the late update and the short, semi-crappy chapter. I have had a lot of homework and studying to do for my finals and on top of that, I'm sick. All I want to do right now is lay down.

Comments:

Always Dean's Girl: Thank you:) Sorry for making you sad DX Lol I thought you would love that;)

BrownEyedRascal: She is adorable isn't she? Sorry, I couldn't do so:(

the Salvatore Winchester: Wow, a holiday in Australia? Was it fun? Im sorry, Kathryn *heart*, Yes I know :D. Yeah, that did sound interesting. In fact, it gave me this great idea for Victoria so thank you very much :D Hmm, perhaps a kiss will be coming soon? ;) And I hoped you had an extra helping of Roe in this chapter haha:)

The Only One Zen Around Here: You changed your name? That wasn't because of what I said was it?! Aww thank you:) And thanks for the OC! I like Benny, but I'm a bit lost on how you would want him to tease Daryl. Elaborate please?

AprilWinchesterWalsh: I am happy you were bored then? Haha. I think they are an excellent pairing as well:)) Thank you for your compliments:) OH! You wouldn't happen to know the other Winchester here, would you? Or is this a fandom? Lol

CrossbowCarryingManiac: Thank you for your review:D I love your name haha.

Tanya: Thank you!~


	6. Chapter 5

"Dad!" Maggie called from the porch as she saw the group racing towards them. Hershel and the others came out as Mica stopped at their doorstep, carrying Roe and an unconscious Carl. The men followed shortly after, accompanied by Otis and a young man wearing a red sweater, denim skinny jeans, and black combat boots. His hear was swept back except for one strand falling against his piercing blue eyes, giving him a cute, boyish look. He was tall, lean, and slightly muscular and also had black studs.

"What happened, Noah?" Hershel questioned the man as he ran up beside Rick.

"W-We were," he paused to catch his breath, "hunting a deer and-"

"My boy was shot by your men," Rick interrupted.

"Get him inside," Hershel said as he began ordering his family what to do. Shane helped Rick take Carl inside and set him down on a bed.

"Is he going to be okay?" Rick asked.

"I need you to step back," Hershel told him. "We'll do everything we can."

Shane nodded and pulled his best friend out of the room and into another where the others were waiting.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Otis managed to apologize through his shock. Noah patted the man on the back and turned to Rick.

"Don't worry, Hershel's going to take good care of him. What's his name?"

"Carl," Rick answered, beginning to tear up.

"Good. Carl right? What's his last name?" Noah counseled.

"Grimes."

"And who are you?" he asked.

"Rick. Rick Grimes. I'm his father," Rick answered.

"Your son is going to be okay," Noah assured. He moved to the others and asked the same. He nervously eyed Mica as they all introduced each other.

"Right…well I'm Noah Mason and this is Otis. The old man is Hershel Greene and his two daughters, Maggie and Beth. Otis' wife, Patricia, and Beth's boyfriend, Jimmy," he paused, "It isn't going to eat us is it?"

Roe shook her head and continued to rid Mica and herself of Carl's blood as Shane did the same for Rick. Noah snapped to attention as he saw this, suddenly remembering something important. "Hey, what's his blood type? Carl's?"

"A positive," Rick said as he put his face in his hands. "Same as me."

"Same here," Benny added.

Noah nodded, "We may need you two to stay close."

"Lori. Lori doesn't know. My wife doesn't know," Rick announced.

"We'll go get her," Shane motioned to the others just as Hershel and Maggie came out.

"I heard what you said earlier," Maggie spoke up. "I'll go get her."

"There's no need for that," Shane began.

Hershel stepped in. "Perhaps if you heard what I have to say, you'll understand. The bullet shattered into six pieces. We managed to get one out while he was passed out, the shallowest one. There are five more. One of them seemed to have hit a blood vessel, meaning he has internal bleeding. We'll have to perform surgery for that and if he moves even the slightest, I could kill him accidentally. I'd have to put him under. We need supplies we don't have for that."

"We can get supplies at the high school," Otis suggested as Rick recovered from his rampant emotions.

"I'll go," he said.

"No way," Noah protested. "Carl needs A positive blood for a surgery. Only you and Benny have that. The two of you have to stay."

Shane sat Rick down as he volunteered to go with Otis. Noah stood up to tag along, however, Hershel held him back and shook his head.

"Roe! Daryl! You're with me!" Shane ordered.

"No," Daryl refused. "Sofia and Victoria are still missing. I have to keep looking for them."

"No," Roe repeated. "Lead the pretty farm girl."

"Maggie," said farm girl absent mindedly corrected.

* * *

Kathryn and Andrea grumbled behind the rest of the group as they all headed back to the highway. The two of them had stuck together ever since the CDC, considering both had been in similar situations.

"This stinks," Kathryn commented as her hair got caught on a branch. "Could you help me with this?"

Andrea made her way back to help her. As they finally untangled her hair, a pair of growls breathed down their necks. The two turned in horror and screamed as they were attacked by Walkers.

"Come on!" Glenn yelled as he and the rest turned back to come to their rescue. Meanwhile, Andrea and Kathryn were wrestling with the Walkers, desperately trying to get out from under them. Suddenly, one of the Walkers was thrown off Kathryn as Mica and Roe tackled it. The other Walker had its head smashed in by a bat shortly after. Maggie and Roe helped the girls up as Mica made sure the Walkers were dead.

"Roe?! What are you doing here?" Lori asked.

"Carl," Roe announced, making Lori stiffen at her son's name.

"You gotta tell me more than that, sweetie," Lori scolded slightly, as her heart sunk. Maggie released Andrea as she told Lori what happened and took her away, leaving Roe and Mica with the others. Roe checked on Andrea and Kathryn again before she was bombarded with questions from everyone.

"What happened?"

"Who was she?"

"What happened to Carl?"

"Did you find Sofia?"

"Where are the others?"

"What was that gunshot?"

Roe's head spun as she was overwhelmed by the questions. "Carl got shot. Pretty farm girl. Shot. No. Farm. Gunfire."

* * *

Rick and Benny looked up as Hershel joined them on the porch.

"Nice place," Benny complimented.

"Been in my family for a 160 years," Hershel smiled.

"I can't believe how serene it is. How untouched," Rick commented. Hershel agreed, but revealed that he has lost a number of loved ones to the epidemic, including his wife.

"We're just hoping we can ride the rest out in peace until a cure has been found," he added.

Rick looked down. "I went to the CDC…There's no cure. Everything went down."

"What do you mean?" Benny asked in interest. Rick just shook his head. Hershel spoke up and argued that the human race would bounce back; it was nature's way. Benny sighed in relief.

"I wish I could believe that," Rick said, looking back out to the field and seeing Lori and Maggie approaching on the horse. Rick immediately went to her and led her inside. Noah came out of the house as Benny was called inside to donate blood. He saw Hershel alone and decided to ask him why he made him stay at the farm and not help at the high school.

"I wanted all the manpower we could get here. Their group split up, any of them could've gone out and gathered reinforcements to overtake the farm. I don't want that," Hershel explained.

"I don't think they're like that," Noah disagreed.

"I can't take any chances," Hershel said.

* * *

"Shot? What do you mean shot?" Dale asked in surprise as half of the initial group returned from the search party and he was told of Carl's accident. Roe cringed internally as she heard yet another question.

"From what we managed to get out of Roe? There was hunting accident and later some chick shows up out of nowhere and takes Lori," Glenn reported.

"Rick sent her," Carol added.

"I heard screaming," Dale said as Andrea and Kathryn passed by angrily. As they shoved past, Glenn informed Dale what had happened.

"Are you okay?" Dale asked worriedly.

Andrea opened the door to the RV angrily and went inside while Kathryn scoffed and looked at the man disbelievingly before following Andrea inside and slamming the door shut. Dale sighed and sat down.

"I know this is a bad time, but I think we should move to where Rick is," Glenn proposed.

"No," Carol protested. "What if they comes back? What if my daughter comes back?"

"The group is scattered. We're weak," Glenn argued.

"She has Victoria with her," Dale supported.

"Daryl. Searches," Roe piped up.

"She'll be okay," Dale put a hand on her shoulder as she finally agreed. As everyone prepared the cars to go down to the Greene residence, Dale took a break and went up to Kathryn and Andrea.

"Andrea, wait," he said as he noticed them trying to escape. Andrea stopped and asked what he wanted.

"To give you this," he said, returning her gun to her and explaining his decisions to her, but also admitting he was wrong. "The same goes for you Kathryn."

"Thank you, Dale," Andrea said sincerely, turning away again.

"Do you forgive me?" Dale asked.

"I'm trying."

* * *

Victoria cursed as she killed another Walker. She was having trouble using her axe since her favored hand had been injured back in the CDC, leaving her with one useable hand that could barely do shit. 'I swear, as soon as we're out of here, I'm training myself to be ambidextrous,' she noted as she led Sophia away again.

The two of them had no idea where they were, they just knew that they were oh so very lost in a forest full of Walkers. Back when Rick separated from them, they had tried to get back to the highway, but more Walkers showed up and drove deeper into the woods. Victoria pulled Sophia down into a ditch as four Walkers passed above. As soon as they were out of sight, Sophia tried to get up and Victoria pushed her down again.

"Have to wait for the stragglers," Victoria whispered. Sure enough, one other Walker passed by overhead. Once the vicinity was clear, the two dashed out of their hiding place. The two walked close together, eventually coming across an abandoned tent. Victoria motioned for Sophia to stand back as she cautiously went into the tent. Victoria scrunched up her nose as the smell of rotting flesh escaped from the open flap. She coughed violently as she checked the corpse and grabbed his gun, pocketing it in her belt. She checked him for other weapons, finding a small, coarse knife. She quickly retreated from the tent and handed the knife to Sophia.

"Only use this if you have to," she instructed, taking Sophia's hand that held the knife and putting it to her own forehead. "Hit it just like this."

Sophia nodded and the two continued on. Victoria noticed the shadows of the trees and looked up, seeing the sky begin to darken.

"We should find some shelter," Victoria thought aloud. "It's getting dark.."

"Come on," she said as they went ahead. Victoria stopped momentarily and broke a couple of branches as Sophia did the same. Victoria gave her a pat on the back and smiled. They broke more as they traveled until they came across an old, rickety cabin.

"It'll do," Victoria said as she went inside first, making sure it was clear of Walkers. She beckoned Sophia in once it was safe and they found a room to spend the night in.

* * *

Maggie and Noah stepped out as the rest of the Atlanta group pulled up next to the house. Roe and Mica hopped out of the open trunk that they always rode in, only this time, they were seated beside Daryl's motorcycle. The two of them walked up to Noah and Maggie as Benny came out to meet everyone.

"Roe," Noah greeted. Roe looked at him, but kept walking with Mica, who settled down on the porch, throwing Noah off at their lack of response.

"Okaaay," Noah ignored the encounter and turned to the new faces, "So who are all of you?"

Noah was ignored again as Carol went to Benny and asked how Carl and his family were. Benny told her the truth and hugged her close, seeing her beginning to fall apart and taking in the fact that the group didn't arrive with two extra people, the ones they were looking for.

"Dale," Dale took their attention from the two as Carol began to cry again in Benny's arms. He stuck out his hand to which Noah gratefully took.

"Hi, I'm Noah Mason and this is Maggie," he introduced.

"Hello. Nice to see you again. We- uh met before…briefly," Glenn stammered. Dale raised an eyebrow and looked from him to Maggie. From what he could see, Glenn was not himself and Maggie was a very…pretty farm girl as Roe correctly put it. He'd have to keep an eye on them.

"You going to tell me your name?" Maggie questioned in a friendly manner.

"Yes! Glenn. I am Glenn. That is me," he trailed, mentally banging his head against a wall.

"Alright, _Glenn_," Maggie teased, putting emphasis on his name and moving to the two women who had yet to introduce themselves.

"Kathryn," Kathryn said, being as short as when she had first been introduced to the group.

"Andrea," Andrea followed, however, was much more kind in her introduction.

"That's Carol over there," Dale introduced for her.

"Great, well, you all can come inside whenever you want. We got food and water," Noah invited as he led Maggie inside.

Glenn groaned as the door closed behind them. "I'm going to go ahead and get eaten by Walkers now. God! So stupid!"

Dale watched as the younger man pulled himself into one of the cars and pulled his hat over his head. As nice as it was to see the boy fall in love, Dale was worried about the problems that could arise from it. He looked back to the door and went up. Everyone except Roe, Mica, and Glenn had gone in. As he peeked through he could see Noah and Maggie smiling to each other as they prepared a meal for everyone. Dale sighed and went in to check up on Rick.

* * *

Mica let out a loud roar as Shane slammed on the breaks, alerting everyone to his presence. Roe put her hand to her heart in relief. Everyone had been tense since it had been decided Carl would have to go through surgery without the needed supplies. In a second, everyone piled out from the house, the Atlanta group incredibly happy to see Shane taking out supplies while Hershel's family waited for Otis to make it out of the car. Hershel went to Shane and took the medical supplies from him, then looked up at him questioningly and fearfully.

"Otis?" he asked a single word. Shane paused and looked at the man, lost before shaking his head. Hershel held in his grief as he ordered absolutely no one to say anything to Patricia before the surgery was done. With that, Hershel hurried back inside to save Carl's life.

Rick embraced Shane, causing him to explain what happened to Otis as everyone around him listened.

* * *

"I've known Otis since I was a kid," Maggie wept. She was huddled inside the kitchen with Noah and Glenn.

"He was a good man," Noah added solemnly, going up to Maggie and rubbing her back. He remembered Maggie's mother could always get her to calm down this way when they were little. The two of them met during school and grew up together. When the college year started, Noah left town to pursue a degree in art. He never got it though. The epidemic spread quickly and Noah was lucky to have made it back to his hometown. After seeing his own home destroyed, Noah traveled the short distance to the farm.

"I'm going to go make some tea," Noah announced, knowing that to be another remedy for Maggie. While Noah was gone, Glenn consoled Maggie in his own way. Maggie named off everyone she lost and, oddly, felt a lot better. She smiled up gratefully at Glenn as Noah came back with three steaming cups.

* * *

Hershel opened the door to where everyone had gathered. He took a deep breath as he announced Carl's status. "He's stabilized. It looks like he'll be fine."

A wave of relief hit the group, causing Hershel and his family to receive a large amount of gratitude. Rick went right up and hugged the older man before he almost began to laugh. However, Hershel kept a grieving look about his face. Although he saved one life, he also lost another.

* * *

A/N:

Hello everyone~ ^.^ Again, sorry. This chapter could've been up much sooner, however, my illness lasted a very long time D: I only just got better and decided to celebrate with a new chapter^.^ Tah-da~! And Merry belated Christmas everyone~ I'll see if I can't update before New Years^.^

Always Dean's Girl: I know. I didn't want to kill him, but I really hate juggling characters so someone had to go...At least not in this story, there aren't happy endings for everyone:( Well hope you enjoyed this chapter, especially if you are bored;) And I have something planned for Daryl that you are just going to love ;)

The Only One Zen Around Here: I was planning on killing her too, but the possibilities I can use on Andrea or various and I just do not know what I should do for her:p And dear God, no! Not Dale! I love him too much. Thank you very much for the details on Benny. I was a bit lost...

the Salvatore Winchester: Oh my goodness, you actually really surprised me. You went from mourning T-Dog to a celebration in a second haha:)

TheMissSalvatorex: Don't worry, I'm not ^.^ Usually I do eventually, if the story is too long...but Walking Dead is not, so I highly doubt I will:) Thank you for your review~

Everyone: Um, excuse me asking, but do you all know each other or something? Some of you have similar pictures and names...


	7. Chapter 6

Daryl wandered through the woods, looking for any signs of the two girls when something stood out to him. He hesitantly approached an area of trees, finding all their branches to be broken in the same direction. Daryl chuckled at their obvious sign. He followed their directions and it wasn't long before he was able to pick up their trail on the forest floor. He sped up as he could see their tracks to be recent, not even a day ago. The hope already growing inside him doubled as he was led to the abandoned house the two of them had spent last night in. Daryl rushed across the clearing and cautiously went inside, checking every room.

"Victoria! Sophia!" Daryl called, becoming angry since every room was empty except for this last one he was checking. He heard the floor boards creek inside. Daryl flung the door open, gaining the attention of the Walker. Daryl quickly shot it and went inside, finding it to be empty. He retrieved his arrow and looked around, seeing a makeshift bed and a few cans of food in the room.

Daryl stomped out of the house and called out into the woods for them. He got no response, causing him to begin scanning the nearby area. He stopped as he spied two Cherokee roses sprouting from the ground.

* * *

Everyone gathered around two piles of rocks, a memorial for both Otis and T-Dog. Hershel began his eulogy as everyone stepped forward, one at a time, taking two rocks and placing them upon each grave solemnly.

"Could you please share his last moments?" Patricia asked in tears. "I need to know his death had meaning."

Shane reluctantly took the stage as he stuck with his lie, turning Otis into a noble hero when in reality, Shane had shot him down and left him as bait. "If it weren't for Otis, I'd never had made it out alive and neither would Carl. He saved us both."

* * *

Shane, Kathryn, Noah, Dale, Lori, Andrea, Roe and Mica all walked down the path to where a Walker had fallen into the well they were using.

"Ew," Kathryn said dully as Dale shined a light down the well, revealing a slimy Walker reaching up at them.

"How long do you think he was down there?" Shane asked Noah.

"We last got water here a couple days ago. No Walkers," Noah pushed his hair back.

"We can't leave it in there," Lori stated.

"If it hasn't already infected the water, blowing its brains everywhere definitely will," Andrea began.

"We need bait," Kathryn concluded, turning to Roe. Roe, who had been playing with Mica, not paying attention to the Walker, felt everyone's eyes on her, making her gracefully get up from her seat on the ground. She pointed to herself questioningly as Noah retrieved rope from a nearby shed.

"Are you sure about this?" Noah asked everyone hesitantly as Roe secured the rope around her and sat on the well with her feet hanging inside, making the Walker anxious.

"Roe is the most capable one for the job," Andrea defended as she grabbed the rope everyone else was already holding. Noah turned to the girl who he hadn't recalled volunteering for the job. Roe forced a smile even though her skin was as white as a sheet.

"Keep an eye on her. Tell us what to do," Dale instructed him. Noah nodded and went to the edge beside Roe. Roe took a deep breath to try and steady herself and told Mica to stay. Sure she had been Walker bait before, but never this close or confined to a space. She grabbed the pole that was laid over the well and scooted off the well, letting her feet hang. She didn't let go until she felt her feet have a good hold on the well.

"Good, take it nice and easy," Noah encouraged, however, only succeeded in giving Roe a small spark of annoyance. Roe took the flashlight from Noah and started a slow decent down. As she did, the Walker became more and more rambunctious.

Noah clenched his fists tightly enough to make his fingers whiten from the lack of blood. So far she was doing okay, but his heart was racing like it would in a thriller movie. He froze as he heard the rusty strain of metal followed by the sound of concrete breaking and shouts.

Roe screamed in surprise as she plummeted into the well. Noah immediately grabbed the loose pole that the others had been using to lower her in slowly before it broke. He was almost dropped into the well too, but luckily everyone else rushed to help him and Roe, even Andrea and Kathryn, who both wore worried expressions.

Roe wailed as she kicked the Walker's hands away from her. She gripped blindly at the wall, trying to find a hold for her to climb on. Roe felt the Walker grip her ankle. She quickly wrenched her ankle free and instinctively kicked the Walker in the face as she began to slowly be pulled back up. She whimpered as she got farther from the Walker, reaching up for the pole that was still laid over the well. She pulled herself up to it and performed a dismount. As she launched herself in the air, she snapped her body forward, allowing her to land safely on the ground. She stared wide eyed at the group who were all sprawled out over the ground and tangled in the rope.

"Fuck," she commented breathlessly as she shakily released herself from the ropes. Her body shook as she tugged on the other rope. Somehow through that hell hole, she had found a way to snag the rope on the Walker's neck. Mica strode beside her as she walked back to the house on her wobbly feet.

"Come on," Shane took their attention as he grabbed the rope that was attached to the Walker. Everyone huffed as they got back up and prepared to pull another out of the well. When everyone was ready, the six of them started pulling. They could hear the growls of the Walker bounce off the well and become louder as they pulled it near the top.

"Almost there," Shane told everyone as half of the Walker was pulled out. The group tugged harder as they felt the Walker get the other half of its body stuck inside.

"Wait!" Noah warned, noticing the Walker beginning to separate, but was too late. The lower half of its body splashed back in the well, leaving the other half still trying to eat them. Shane growled and approached the mess. He pulled out a knife and quickly stabbed the Walker in the head. He removed the knife and stabbed again, only this time harder. He repeated this action, leaving Lori and Noah surprised at his behavior. Dale quickly stepped in, making Shane pocket the knife and trudge away. Dale herded them all back to the house, however, they had all seen a different side to Shane just now.

* * *

Benny perked up as Roe approached the group's camp right outside of the house with Mica. Despite her circus get up, she was attractive and had a cute personality to boot. He would never go after her seriously though because of her age, just a year under eighteen. However, he wouldn't mind flirting with her.

"Hey Roe," Benny greeted cheerfully. Mica roared angrily at him, Roe's moodiness from the previous situation affecting the protective lion. Benny immediately backed off as Roe and Mica decided to leave. He sulkily walked back to his seat as he mentally crossed Roe off his list of women to flirt with. Shane had just recently took Andrea and Kathryn with him for gun practice. He sighed. He really wanted to see if he could get on their good side. Flirting with Lori would be suicidal and Beth had a boyfriend and was also the same age as Roe. He refused to go after a dead man's dearly beloved as well so that meant no Patricia either. So then maybe Maggie? Benny groaned as he remembered she had gone out with Glenn to the pharmacy. Besides, he sort of suspected she was together with that Noah guy…

His thoughts were interrupted by a nearby muffled sobbing. Benny tracked the noise, seeing Carol crumpled on the ground, crying and covering her mouth to keep from making too much noise. In her hands was a small item of clothing that belonged to a small child and above her hung a line of clothing. Benny figured out that she must have been doing laundry when some of her daughter's old clothing popped up. Benny knelt beside her and silently scooped the fragile woman in his arms as he once again allowed her to cry into him. Benny sighed as he leaned back against a tree and rubbed small circles on Carol's back. Carol, in return, clutched to him and told him everything, from her abusive relationship with Ed to how she'd give everything just for her daughter to be safe. Benny listened intently, surprised on how such a fragile woman could handle all of that, but then, he mused that Carol was actually very strong. When Carol was done telling her life story, she felt better. She stared up at Benny and smiled, removing herself from his hold.

"Thank you," she told him sincerely. Benny got up as well and approached her. He took her hand in his, feeling a deepened connection between them since he now knew almost everything about her. That was his honest feeling, but he still couldn't help but bring her hand up to his mischievous lips and press a kiss against her skin.

"Any time."

* * *

Glenn couldn't keep that stupid smile off his face as he watched Maggie walk back to her home as he placed the group's new supplies in the middle of camp. He laughed stupidly as he remembered their trip to town. Maggie, feeling his eyes on her, turned and laughed as she saw him looking at her just like she had imagined.

She turned as she felt a hand on her shoulder. Noah smiled up at her, making her beam and Glenn's smile to drop as he watched the two start a short conversation. Glenn felt his heart sink as he watched them interact. They were so familiar with each other and suddenly, Glenn felt like there was no room for him. Then, he remembered the closeness the two of them shared, from the moment he arrived on the farm, like the time where Noah had been the one to comfort her first when it had been revealed that Otis was dead. Glenn felt sick as he saw the possibility that he could be the other guy, someone who Maggie had cheated on with.

Glenn walked over to Noah as Maggie returned inside. Noah greeted Glenn warmly as he continued his work.

"Are you and Maggie together?" Glenn blurted. Noah's eyes widened at the unexpected question as he stopped what he was doing.

"No. Why?" Noah answered, before his mind came to the obvious answer. "Oh. You like her."

Glenn sighed in defeat. "Is it that obvious?"

"Yeah," Noah laughed, "but Maggie also let me know."

"What? When?"

"Just a minute ago," Noah said.

"She told you what we did?!" Glenn's jaw dropped.

"No. I was joking," Noah revealed, but looked at Glenn suspiciously. "So what did you guys do?"

"Nothing!" Glenn's cheeks reddened.

Noah laughed and patted him on the back. "It's fine. Glad she fell for you and not someone like Shane."

"Oh," Glenn trailed. "Why not Shane?"

"He's violent," Noah put bluntly.

"Yeah," Glenn agreed as he remembered Shane's incident with Ed. A silence hung over them which Glenn took as his cue to leave, but stopped as Noah said something that shook him up. Bad.

"Maggie and I are practically engaged."

"What?" Glenn gaped. "But I thought you said-"

"That's true. Neither of us love each other. It's Hershel. He likes to keep his family close and safe. He's known me since a boy and never even looked at another guy for Maggie since we shared a tub together," Noah said as he recalled spending half of his life growing up in the Greene home while the other half was spent in his own.

"What I'm trying to say is that, it'll be hard winning over Hershel. If it weren't for the apocalypse, I don't think Jimmy would even be in the picture. But, hey, when," he stopped as he tried out Glenn's word for them, "…Walkers…eat every bachelor in the world, you don't have much variety to choose from."

Noah smiled and placed a hand on Glenn's shoulder again. "Just know that I have your guys' back."

His grip tightened and gaze darkened. "So long as you treat her well."

Glenn smiled as Noah released him. "Thanks."

* * *

"Go!" Victoria shouted to Sofia as she paused to embed her axe into the skull of another Walker. Sofia flinched, but stayed beside Victoria.

"Dammit girl!" Victoria vented as she herded Sofia away from the two others after them. Normally, two wouldn't be a problem for Victoria, but throw in fatigue and dehydration with her disabling injury and you get Victoria having a very rough time. Victoria panted as she swung down on a Walker much larger than her. However, because of her exhaustion, she failed to kill it and succeeded only on knocking it down, along with her axe that stayed put in its flesh.

Victoria attempted to retrieve her axe, but the other Walker grabbed her from behind. A tremor flew through her as she heard it growling at her ear, just about to tear into her. The growling stopped short and Victoria was released.

"I did it. Just like you said," Sofia said shakily as she removed the knife from the Walker's head.

"Good," Victoria said thankfully as she felt herself wanting to rest on the ground where she had fallen. The Walker that had fallen before growled and began to get back up. Victoria shrieked as kicked it away from her. She got up as she heard more growls not far off and practically cried internally as more Walkers emerged from the woods.

She pushed Sofia behind her as she unstrapped 'Sam' from her back and started firing. Once she had killed off a good number of them, she grabbed Sofia and pushed herself to run away to safety with her, completely forgetting her beloved axe behind.

* * *

"Rick," Hershel called, pulling the other man away. Rick followed, anxious to hear Hershel's answer to his proposition. This place was paradise and Rick and his group would be so grateful if they could stay.

"I've thought about what you said," Hershel said. "My answer is no."

Rick's hopes faded away at his answer. "Hershel-"

"When your boy has recovered and those missing people have been found, you and them will all leave my property," Hershel finished.

"You don't know what it's like out there," Rick argued, making Hershel hold up his hand for him to stop.

"We've had this conversation. I need to make sure my family is safe," Hershel said.

"This is a good group," Rick tried, wishing Hershel could know them all like he did.

"I'm sorry, but you have to leave eventually," Hershel declared.

* * *

"Still going away?"

Shane jumped as a feminine voice questioned him out of nowhere. He had just resigned to a place where he could be alone, without interruption when that was proved wrong.

"Jesus woman," Shane muttered as he calmed his heart and glared at Kathryn. Kathryn smiled slightly, amused by his reaction.

"You still haven't answered by question," she smirked.

"That's none of your business," Shane said, ignoring her.

Kathryn cut in front of him. Can't ignore what's right in front of you, right? "It is if I'm going to go with you."

"No," Shane said sternly, pushing past her. However, he stopped and laughed to himself in disbelief. "Why should I bring you along in the first place?"

Kathryn smiled to herself, already knowing her answer to his question. She slid herself up on top of the hood of his car as she smirked again, "Two is better than one. That's something you're familiar with right? With Otis?"

Shane's gaze darkened as she hit a sore subject. He swiftly went up to her and grabbed her roughly. "You don't know shit about that."

"I don't belong here, Shane. Neither do you. Teach me and I'll be of more use to you than Otis ever was."

Shane pushed her away and left. Kathryn scowled deeply and left to find Andrea, however, her words stuck with Shane as he prepped for his leave.

* * *

"Woah!" Daryl exclaimed as a rattlesnake struck at him while he was walking a path. He had been on the lookout for Walkers, not snakes. Daryl felt a lurch in his stomach as he ducked too far to the side and fell over the side of a steep cliff.

"Son of a bitch!" Daryl groaned in pain once he finally hit the ground, feeling one of his arrows stuck in his side. Daryl quickly ripped his shirt up, fashioning a tourniquet for his wound. Daryl took a few deep breaths before he began climbing up the cliff. He had almost made it, but one of the small trees supporting him gave way in the soft dirt and toppled all the way down along with him, knocking him into a hallucinogenic state.

Now, Merle sneered down on his younger brother and shook his head. "Look at you. What happened to all those survival skills you learned over the years? You're going to die out her and for what?"

"Victoria and a little girl," Daryl replied.

"So you looking for them now? Cause I noticed you're not looking for old Merle no more," Merle baited.

"I tried like hell to find you," Daryl defended.

"Really? Cause I see you doing a lot to find them two girls and nothing for me," Merle pushed, waiting for an answer. "Huh? Why is that? You screwing that little redbird?"

"Shut up!" Daryl barked. Merle backed up as a smile formed on his face.

"Damn boy. You got the love bug bad. I tell you, screw her and it'll all be over. You'll get over her and she won't break you down. Ain't nobody got time for doing all that mushy shit. You want to survive? Then get over her," Merle ordered. "I'm the only family you got."

Merle left as Daryl regained some sort of consciousness, just in time, to fight off two Walkers. He kicked off the one chewing on his shoe and wrestled it until he was on top before smashing its face in with a large stick.

Daryl rolled to the side and painfully pulled out the arrow in his side, setting it in his crossbow and shooting the Walker in the head just as it was ready to eat him alive. Daryl panted as exhaustion took over him and he fell asleep.

When he awoke, the sun hit him in the face. Daryl moved to the shade and looked at the twice dead Walkers before him as he recollected what happened. He groaned as he felt the pain in his side. He pulled himself to the edge and rearranged the tourniquet to better fit the wound. Once again, Daryl began the journey up the cliff, double checking every tree and branch he grabbed on to, making sure they were stable. As he neared the top, he became stuck in an area with almost nothing to grab onto.

A laughter erupted from above as Merle appeared again at the top. "What's the matter, Darylina? That all you got in you?"

Daryl growled as he tried to pull himself up higher. Merle continued taunting him, spurring Daryl's anger.

"Shut up!" Daryl finally shouted. Merle obeyed, but gave Daryl a deadly stare as he turned on his heel and disappeared, replaced by a vision of Victoria.

"Daryl!" she called, holding out her good hand. Daryl paused as his mind stopped working at the sight of her and he forgot the anger Merle caused. 'Son of a bitch. That bastard was right,' Daryl thought as he grabbed Victoria's hand. Victoria struggled to help Daryl up while Sofia helped too by pulling on Victoria. The second Daryl was safely on stable ground again, he pulled Victoria close and breathlessly put his lips to hers.

Victoria's eyes widened. She had just pulled him up from a cliff and now he was kissing her? That was a bit odd for any Dixon. Why had he been over the cliff in the first place? And why the hell was she asking herself this? She forced the questions in her head to stop spinning as she closed her eyes and kissed him back. Fuck, she really needed to get some help. The physical stress she had been through was obviously messing with her head, but right now, she was just enjoying the kiss.

* * *

"Walkers!" Andrea yelled. Kathryn glared at her as she covered her ears. The two of them sat next to each other atop the RV as they took watch. Shane was the first to retrieve a weapon, followed by the others. Benny left from Carol's side as he took up his crowbar. Noah and Glenn, who had become good friends, gathered a baseball bat and axe respectively. Roe and Mica waited for them to get half way before they joined in, catching up easily.

"Wait," Rick tried, but they were too far out. He cursed and ran after them with his gun. Meanwhile, Andrea was aiming at the Walker's heads with her long ranged gun before she saw the familiar height difference. Two were taller, looking like a man and a woman, and the other was small, like a child. "Sofia?"

Carol and the others immediately looked out as they heard Andrea.

"Oh my God. Stop them!" Carol cried as she ran ahead with everyone else. Andrea froze, unknowing what to do. She had been the one to send them off. Kathryn removed her hand gun from her belt and fired into the air. The group that had gone off ahead stopped as they were alerted to the warning. The shots also drew the attention of Hershel's family as they all came out to see what was going on.

The first group stopped long enough for Rick to catch up. "Everyone, stop. Hershel wants to handle the Walkers," he passed on.

"Why? We got it," Shane argued.

"Guys?" Glenn interrupted as he pointed to the Walkers. In front of them stood Daryl, Victoria, and Sofia, all looking like they had gone through hell.

"You going to shoot us after everything we've been through?" Victoria asked sarcastically, but breathlessly. She and Daryl supported each other for if either let go, they would collapse on the ground. By now, everyone else had gathered around them.

There were cries of joy as everyone surged forward. Carol cried as she knelt down and hugged her daughter tightly. Benny patted Daryl on the shoulder as he praised him.

"Fuck off," Daryl managed to shove the other man's hand off him.

"Asshole. Now I remember why we were never friends," Benny muttered as Daryl and Victoria were pulled apart and each individually helped over to Hershel's.

"What's going on?" Hershel asked Rick.

"They found her!" Rick exclaimed. Hershel looked at the two half dead people in front of him that had risked their lives to bring back a member or their group. Hershel nodded his respect to them as he allowed them all inside so that he may treat their wounds. Perhaps it was not that bad of a group after all, but he still had his doubts.

* * *

A/N: Sorry guys! I forgot my promise to update before New Years and yeah...Happy New Year...T.T

Jeremy's little Vampire: Ah, I see...so thats who this story attracts. Thank you! Please enjoy this chapter :)

the Salvatore Winchester: lol well it was funny^.^ I guess since I don't know the name, I don't know why its so special...Haha, its okay ^.^ The thing about Daryl and Victoria you say? Well this was it;) Liked it? :) Happy Holidays to you as well :D

BrownEyedRascal: Haha yeah, he ended up being written that way as I went along, I hope that's okay...:O Ah, you're welcome..I've never actually been thanked for an update before haha ^.^

Letting you guys know, that I'll start school again on Monday so of course that and homework may keep me away for a while. I'll try to update though ^.^ Bye~

Rose


	8. Chapter 7

Carl, who, by now, had fully recovered from his gunshot wound, sat beside Sofia at the kid's table with Roe, Beth, and Jimmy. Everyone else was seated at a longer table, where the alcohol was kept from those underage. The meal was surprisingly quiet even though it was supposed to be a thanks giving dinner.

"So uh," Glenn tried to break the silence, "Does anybody know how to play guitar?"

Hershel's family stiffened, making Glenn realize he had said something wrong.

"Otis did," Patricia commented sadly. Glenn instantly regretted his question and found a strange fascination in his food. Maggie reached under the table and reassuringly rubbed his thigh before slipping him a note. Glenn smiled stupidly again as he read the note and quickly wrote back a reply, not going unnoticed by Hershel, Noah or Dale. Noah, who was on the other side of the table, saw the other men looking at the couple suspiciously and quickly drew their attention away.

"I think I know a couple songs!" Noah said a bit too loudly. He threw Maggie a warning glance before going to obtain a guitar. Hershel and Dale followed Noah's glance and saw Maggie in the middle of recollecting her cool.

* * *

Carol set two plates of food down on the table beside her as she freed her hands to knock on a wooden door.

"Come in," came Daryl's hoarse reply. Carol retrieved the food and pushed open the door, smiling at the two patients in the room. "I brought you two some food."

Victoria immediately perked up at the sound of food. Carol smiled at her action and handed the food to her first. After giving Daryl his share, she moved back towards the door.

"Thank you again," she said graciously before shutting the door behind her. Victoria beamed and immediately struck her fork into her chicken with her uninjured hand and lifted it up unsuccessfully. After a couple moments of trying to consume her food and failing, Victoria gave up and glared at the delicious meal. In the midst of cursing her injury, she felt an amused pair of eyes on her. Victoria turned her deadly gaze to Daryl who continued to chew his food and prepared his second bite. However, he unexpectedly set his food to the side and motioned for Victoria to come over. Victoria crossly obeyed as she beside him on the bed. Daryl took his fork and brought it up for Victoria to eat from.

Victoria moved away slightly and staring at the food, surprised by his uncharacteristic gesture. She eventually allowed him to feed her, figuring out that being fed by someone else was her only hope of satisfying the grumbling in her stomach and reasoning that Daryl had probably figured that out before her. She made herself comfortable beside him, since she'd be there for a while. The two of them ate in silence, each thinking about the other. For Victoria, she was thinking about their kiss earlier which sent her head into a frenzy of questions about how she felt for the man beside her. Meanwhile, Daryl was pondering Merle's words. Well, trying to. He couldn't exactly think straight with her laying beside him.

* * *

Glenn held his head in his hands as he pondered what to do. It was proving too difficult to keep both Lori's pregnancy and the Walkers in the barn a secret from everyone. He needed help.

"Hey," Noah greeted as he handed Glenn a box of peaches for him to pass out to his group. Noah took them, but kept quiet. Noah gave him a confused look. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah!" Glenn said quickly, shying away from his friend. Noah stepped forward to confront him. But Glenn had already left, leaving Noah wondering what happened.

* * *

"You suck," Shane told the two women as he inspected the moving log they had been firing at for any shots fired on it and finding none. Kathryn scowled while Andrea complained the target was too small.

"Bullshit," Shane argued. "You two are in this advanced class because you nailed bull's eyes from 25 feet."

"It wasn't moving!" Andrea protested.

"What? You think Walkers are going to hold still for you?" Shane laughed and pushed the log into motion again. "Reload and go again."

Kathryn and Andrea did as they were told while Shane moved behind them and observed. He moved in on Andrea and started pushing her to do better. Andrea snapped back at him, turning it into a full blown argument until Shane won, leaving Andrea to angrily start firing at the target again.

"And you," Shane started at Kathryn who had taken up to lounging against a fence post. Kathryn got up languidly and sauntered up beside him. She already began firing when Shane started coaching her too.

"C'mon girl! You always got some scowl on your face! You expecting me to think you were born with that? Naw, that's not right," Shane got right in her face. "C'mon! What made you get that scowl, huh? What's the reason you can't smile anymore?"

Shane watched as Kathryn's melancholic face contorted into one of anger and pain. Kathryn furrowed her brows as she tried to ignore Shane's words and become lost in the sounds of her bullets shooting from her gun and connecting with the log in front of her. Shane nodded in satisfaction and continued yelling as if he were an officer in boot camp.

"Now go on, shoot that son of a bitch! That's a Walker that got your loved ones! Now, you shoot that son of a bitch! Shoot 'im!"

Shane suddenly stopped as Kathryn breathed heavily and aimed her gun at Shane. Shane also caught his breath as he held her simmering gaze with curiosity. He knew he got Andrea by mentioning Amy, but who had Kathryn lost?

Andrea stared in disbelief and hurt at him and stormed off. Kathryn left Shane's gaze and looked to Andrea. She lowered her gun and shoved past Shane, following her friend. Shane watched the two of them go and groaned, "Shit!"

He grabbed the ammo and guns, throwing them in the car, got in and followed them. Kathryn and Andrea ignored him as he pulled up beside them, walking straight ahead towards the farm. Shane gave up talking to them, and cut the car in front of them.

"Look, I'm just trying to give you guys an idea of what it's like," he explained.

"Is that an apology?" Andrea spat.

"I crossed the line when I brought up people you lost. I'm sorry for that," Shane said sincerely.

"You're a real dick sometimes, you know that?" Andrea vented.

"I acknowledge that. Look, I got a lead on Sophia and thought I'd check it out," he said, turning to Kathryn, "You could be my backup."

The two women shared a look before getting in the backseat of the car. Shane followed after them and turned the car around as they traveled back down the road.

* * *

"Shit!" Andrea said as Walkers suddenly swarmed from outside and came after them.

"You two cover the streets," Shane ordered as he left to get the car. Kathryn and Andrea wasted no time and began shooting. If they had been shooting living people, it wouldn't have been a problem when their hits made contact with a torso or occasional shoulder, but since these were Walkers, they were royally screwed.

"Fuck," Kathryn said as she got fed up with missing. She left Andrea's side and ran up to individual Walkers so that she could get them from point blank. Meanwhile, Andrea continued missing until her gun jammed.

"Shit!" She repeated herself and hurriedly fixed her gun as one Walker came a little too close for comfort. Andrea brought her gun up and shot it in the head just before it grabbed onto her.

"C'mon!" Shane yelled at them as he pulled the car around the corner and honked the horn. The two ran up to the car, but hesitated getting in.

"What are you waiting for? Get in," Shane ordered. Kathryn closed the car door she had opened and joined Andrea's firing line. The two of them missed a couple more times before they finally started getting head shots. As the Walkers fell one by one, a pair of sadistic grins accompanied the gunfire.

* * *

Glenn got up nervously and walked to the Atlanta group gathered around the campfire, eating breakfast. He hesitated a bit, wondering how he should put what he was going to say. Dale walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. Glenn nodded and addressed everyone, "Um guys…so…the barn's full of Walkers."

The Atlanta group ditched breakfast and quickly went down to the barn to confirm this. Sure enough, there was two dozen or so Walkers stuck inside. Shane growled, "You can't tell me you're okay with this."

"I'm not," Rick agreed. "But we're guests here. This isn't our land."

"Well we either fix this or we get out," Shane declared.

"Let me talk to Hershel and figure this out," Rick said.

"What do you have to figure out?!" Shane shouted, annoyed that no one saw what he saw.

"If we're going to stay, clear this barn, we have to talk him into it," Rick stated.

"Why would we stay? Nothing's keeping us here anymore!" Shane argued.

"Ever since the world went to shit, this has been the best place we've seen! It's safe for our people," Rick shot back.

Dale went between the two men, hoping to prevent a full blown argument from starting. "Alright. Hershel thinks these are just sick people. His wife and stepson are there-"

Dale was cut off by Kathryn's scoff. "Sick people? What the hell does he know? He's been on this farm ever since the first attack!"

"He has lost people, Kathryn," Dale reasoned.

"So have we! We didn't get the luxury of thinking they were ill! Someone needs to talk some sense into him! Or force it-"

"Calm your gorgeous tits," Benny interrupted sarcastically.

"Fuck you! Why can he live so blissfully when I had to be the one to kill Zack?!" Kathryn began to cry. Andrea slung her arm around the younger and led her away. Victoria looked on sadly.

"I get it now. Zack must've been that love of her life she was talking about," Victoria said as she recalled what Kathryn had said back in the CDC. Everyone quieted down as they put together what happened. Before the CDC, Kathryn must've been with her boyfriend and then they were attacked and Zack didn't make it. Kathryn mourned over his body long enough for him to change and then she was forced to kill him herself.

"I'll talk to Hershel," Rick dispersed with the others while Shane stayed behind to watch the barn and make sure none got out.

* * *

Inside Hershel's home, Maggie and Noah stood in the doorway, ready to confront Hershel after overhearing him argue with Rick over the matter of them staying.

"You can't kick them out," Noah started.

Hershel shook his head. "They don't need our help anymore. They survived out there before, they'll be fine. They're a strong group."

"That's a lie. They need our help," Noah said.

"How is that? I've done what I could for them," Hershel denied.

"Rick is right. The outside world is different from what was on the news. I was out there before I came back here," Noah debated.

"Yesterday, Glenn saved my life when one of those people you think are sick tried to kill me," Maggie broke down a little bit.

"Is that what this is about? That Asian boy? The two of you have gotten awfully close to him. It seems to me like he's coming in-between the two of you," Hershel stopped as he noticed Noah looking away and Maggie shaking her head.

"So what if he is? That's not what this is about," Noah said.

"Don't do this," Maggie begged.

"Hershel!" Jimmy called from outside, rushing inside and ending the previous conversation. Noah and Maggie left the room, but not before Noah caught Jimmy's message, "It happened again."

Noah looked back as Hershel and Jimmy left the house, something they did often, but Noah never knew the reason.

'What's going on?' he thought. He looked outside the window and watched as they talked to Rick and led him into the woods.

* * *

Benny leaned against a tree trunk coolly as he observed Carol enjoyed some time with her daughter.

"Hey," he interrupted. Carol looked up from Sofia and smiled, greeting him back. Benny knelt beside Carol and introduced himself.

"Hey there. I'm Benny. You must be Sofia, the girl everyone's been looking for."

Sofia shied away from him, making Carol gush at her adorable daughter.

"It's okay. Benny helped us to find you," Carol coaxed. Sofia moved back to her original position and smiled softly at Benny. In turn, Benny pretended an arrow struck his heart.

"Well if that isn't the most dazzling smile I've ever seen," he teased, earning a giggle from Sofia.

"Must've gotten that from your mom," Benny added. Carol, who had been smiling from his earlier joke, looked surprised at his compliment.

"Thank you," She gave him a funny look. Benny tried to talk to her again, but was interrupted by an uproar around the farm. The three of them turned and found most of the group gathered around the porch.

"Let's go," Benny helped Sofia up, shifting her to her mother's side as he put a protective hand on Carol's back. As they came closer, they saw Shane handing out arms to his own people.

"How bout you, man? You gonna protect yours?" Shane held out a gun to Glenn, who reluctantly took it under Maggie's angry gaze.

"Can you stop?" She glowered. Shane ignored her as he saw Benny came within range.

"Benny! You standin' with me?" Shane called. Benny paused as he took in the situation, feeling his initial dislike of Shane growing stronger.

"In your dreams, Jackass," Benny spit. Shane threw him a glare before turning to Noah.

"Know how to shoot?"

"What the hell are you doing?" Noah glared.

"Don't act innocent," Shane said disgustedly, "We know the barn's full of Walkers!"

Noah stepped back, stunned. Maggie took his place. "Noah's innocent. He never knew."

Shane looked taken aback for a moment before chuckling and switching from Noah to Carl.

"There are Walkers in the barn?" Noah asked Maggie. Maggie nodded sadly and explained how it was their family…including his.

"You didn't know?" Glenn asked surprised.

"No!" Noah denied before gaining a light blush and explaining, "The barn scared me when I was a kid. Someone was always telling me how there were monsters in there. I guess they never knew they'd be right."

Noah looked at Maggie who avoided his gaze. Meanwhile, Roe had sprung between Shane and Carl along with Mica. Roe glared at Shane while Mica growled lowly. Before Shane could say anything, Lori came in from her place on the porch.

"This isn't your call. Not your decision to make," She said heatedly, extremely mad that he had thought of bringing Carl into his mess.

"Guys," Victoria said from Daryl's side. Everyone turned to find Jimmy, Hershel, and Rick returning to the farm with Walkers restrained on catch poles.

"What is that? What is that?!" Shane seethed as he ran towards them, everyone else following.

"Stay back Shane!" Rick ordered, struggling to hold the Walker. Shane ignored his best friend and continued his angry military speech while Kathryn and Andrea watched a repeat of earlier.

"THESE THINGS KILL! THEY'RE MONSTERS THAT KILLED OTIS! AMY! T-DOG! ZACH! THE REST OF YOUR FAMILIES!"

"Back down, Shane!" Rick yelled, but Shane had already fueled the fires in most of the group's hearts. Kathryn, Victoria, and Andrea became caught in their hatred of Walkers. Benny was trying to turn Carol and Sofia back to the house, but was too busy glaring holes in Shane's head. Noah finally snapped out of his shock and retrieved a small pistol. Mica roared loudly in disagreement as he and his mistress rounded up the kids to ensure their safety.

"Hey Hershel, let me ask you something," Shane said, pulling a gun from the back of his belt. "Could a living, breathing person, walk away from this?"

And with that, Shane shot several bullets into the torso of the female Walker, letting everyone see how it went unfazed by its wounds and kept trying to eat everyone.

"SHANE, STOP!" Rick shouted angrily.

"IF THEY WERE ALIVE, WHY DO THEY KEEP COMING, HUH?!" Shane shot another round into the Walker.

"SHANE ENOUGH!" Rick exploded.

"Yeah, you're right man," Shane said, approaching the Walker and raising his gun to its head, "That is enough."

Hershel let the catch pole slip from his hands as the Walker finally fell with a bullet to the head. He fell to the ground in a cold sweat. Maggie ran to his side, feeling just as helpless as the rest.

"IF YOU WANNA LIVE! YOU GOTTA FIGHT! I'M TALKING ABOUT FIGHT! RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!" Shane finished and took off. He started banging on the barn door, ignoring people's shouts of protests from behind. The Walkers in the barn banged against the door as Shane cut the lock and let them loose.

Shane backed up and held up his gun as Walker's started pouring out. His firing line was joined by Victoria, Andrea, Daryl, and Kathryn. The five of them started shooting into the mass and surprisingly, the short tempered Daryl was the only one who exhibited no anger or pleasure in his own rounds.

Noah joined them along with Glenn after Maggie acted as the head of her family in Hershel's place and gave them consent with tears in her eyes. Shane turned around and shot the Walker Rick was still holding back. Rick joined them, his expression heavy and dark.

As the gunfire continued, Hershel and his family grieved as they saw their family shot down.

* * *

"Hershel!" Noah ran after his family as they retreated back home, Hershel leaving with the final words of 'Get off my property'.

"Don't worry," Noah paused to assure Glenn and his group, then began chasing after them again.

"What the hell was that?!" Benny whipped around towards Shane, furiously clenching his fists.

"You got something to say?!" Shane growled.

"Hold it," Daryl intervened, sending a glare at Benny. "Me and this guy been at it for a long time."

"You agree with this asshole?" Benny asked Daryl.

"You got a problem with that Benjamin?" Daryl readied himself for a fight, something the two of them often did, even as kids.

"Shane didn't do anything wrong," Andrea supported.

"What would you have done? Since you have such a kind heart, what would you have done?" Kathryn mocked him.

"Kathryn! Andrea," Dale said their names, shocked by their opinions. "You can't seriously agree with this?"

"Why not? We had to do it," Victoria answered for them.

"Oh, bullshit! I'm sure little miss sadist loved taking those people down," Benny sneered. Daryl felt his blood boil and tackled Benny. Benny reflexively elbowed Daryl in the back as he fell. The two of them collided with the ground and began wrestling for domination, each punching and kicking the other every chance they got.

"Hey!" Rick shouted and pulled them apart with Dale and Glenn's help.

"C'mon! I dare you to say one more thing!" Daryl provoked.

"That's enough," Rick said with finality.

"Stop arguing about it. It's done. There's nothing we can do anymore," Lori backed up her husband.

* * *

Noah approached the Atlanta group, completely oblivious to the tense air surrounding them. Glenn came out of his reserve as he saw his friend. "What did he say?"

Noah caught his breath, "I couldn't ask. He locked himself in his room, but he disappeared now. Have any of you seen him? Beth has gone into shock. She's not responding to anything.

"Oh my god," Lori and Carol gasped.

"We haven't seen him," Rick shook his head.

"That's what I was afraid of," Noah said as he materialized an empty flask from his pocket. "He started drinking again. He must've went into town when he ran out."

"The bar in town?" Rick asked.

"Yeah."

"I'll go with you," Rick stated and started preparing to leave.

"Me too," Glenn joined in.

* * *

Glenn looked nervously between the two men in the car, before blurting, "Maggie said she loves me."

"Alright!" Noah smiled and patted Glenn on the back while Rick gave him a nod of approval.

Glenn smiled, but it quickly dropped. "But I think she didn't mean it. She's confu-"

"Hey," Noah interrupted. "Don't doubt her. She's as straightforward as they come."

"I agree," Rick threw in. "So what seems to be the problem?"

"I didn't say it back," Glenn admitted.

"Sounds to me like you're the one who's confused," Noah thought aloud. Glenn looked down as he realized this was true.

"Look, just enjoy it. We don't get enough of things like this these days. When we get back, just return the favor. It's not like she's going anywhere," Rick advised as Noah pointed out the bar and they pulled up next to it.

The three of them entered the bar, finding Hershel hunched over an empty glass.

"Hershel," Rick called.

"Who's with you?" the elder asked.

"It's me and Glenn," Noah answered and continued, "Hershel, Beth collapsed. You need to come back immediately."

"What could I do?" Hershel moped, "She needs her mother. She should've mourned weeks ago and I robbed her of that."

"You thought she could be saved. You can't blame yourself for holding out on hope," Rick consoled; however, Hershel continued to lament, eventually turning into a full blown argument between both heads of their individual groups.

Hershel poured himself another glass as Rick continued his side, stating that even if there is no hope, they had to keep going, that it wasn't about what they thought anymore, that they had to sacrifice everything for the sake of the group. His speech was cut short as two men entered the bar, surprising everyone.

* * *

"I'm Dave. The scrawny one over there is Tony," Dave pointed to his heavier fellow as Rick handed everyone drinks.

"I'm Noah," Noah introduced friendlily, "Nice to meet some new people."

"I'm Glenn," Glenn matched Noah's mood.

"Rick Grimes. His name's Hershel. He lost people today."

"I'm truly sorry to hear that," Dave said and commenced a cheers to the dead. Afterwards, Dave and Tony told them how they'd been over half the country, looking for salvation, but finding none. That included Fort Benning.

"So you guys stay here? I don't think so. Sorta empty," Dave tried to casually bring up. "We were thinking of moving in. Is it safe?"

"We're in a larger group," Hershel revealed, while Glenn and Noah happily gave away information, not considering the threat. Rick was the only one who fully understood it and caught on to the other men's motive while Hershel was slowly coming to an understanding as well. The two younger men quieted down as they both received warning glances from Rick.

Dave and Tony continued to ask questions, but received no answers. Dave stopped asking Rick and turned to Noah and Glenn, asking them, since they had so willingly let them in on the situation of things here. The two of them held their tongues though, now that they realized their mistake.

"We got some buddies back at camp who been having a real hard time. Can't you show us some hospitality?" Dave tried a different approach.

"We've said enough," Rick stated firmly.

"Man, that's bullshit!" Tony complained.

"Calm down," Rick started.

"Don't you tell me to calm down, man! I'll shoot you and your boys in the head! I'll kill you and take your goddamn farm!"

"Woah!" Dave exclaimed, moving in-between the two. "Nobody's killing anybody."

Despite his words, Dave reached for his gun, but Rick had already pointed his own at the man's head. He faced the other and shot him down as well, just before a bullet would've ripped into him. Rick darkly cast his gaze over the corpses, while Hershel looked on solemnly and Noah and Glenn imagined what would've happened if Rick hadn't been there to shut them up.

In this world, they couldn't trust people so easily.

* * *

A/N:

Always Dean's Girl: That's okay :) Thank you! Haha, did you like the kiss? I hope I played it out well ^.^ I guess I'll spoil it a bit: You don't have to worry about Daryl listening to Merle, dear, a LOT of things are going to happen. He'll be too busy to follow out that advice;)

BrownEyedRascal: Thank you for your constant reviews :D Haha, who doesn't? Hehe you're welcome ^.^

Blue Eyed Butterflyx: Thank you very much :) Roe does seem to be very popular ^.^

Hi…So I've been gone long enough for most of you to change usernames he..he…yeah…But no one has to worry about me giving up on this story. Usually for stories like this, I do give up because it's simply too long and I'm not attached enough to continue, however, luckily for all of you, this is based off the TV series which has a short length. There are maybe two more chapters before I finish season two, so there are definitely no worries:) So yeah, thanks to everyone for sticking around ^.^

'Trojans' is what I imagined Noah singing at the dinner table. When I thought about what he would sound like, I just went through my mental playlist and found this to be the most similar so yeah.

ASDFGHJKL! EVERYONE ENJOY THE NEW WALKING DEAD EPISODE ON TONIGHT! I'M SO EXCITED! .

See you guys next month when I decide to update again ;D (Bad joke. I know…)

Rose


	9. Chapter 8

"Let's head back," Hershel said in a grim manner. The other men agreed, Rick collecting the guns while Glenn and Noah were still a little bit shocked. Rick and the other three ducked below the bar windows as they heard wheels skidding to a stop and three car doors slam shut.

"Dave! Tony!" a man shouted. The four inside the bar looked back at the two men lying dead on the floor.

"They're probably in the bar," one of the men outside suggested. The porch creaked as the three men went up the stairs and arrived in front of the bar. One man knocked, "Hey Dave! Tony! You in there?"

Rick pressed himself against the door as everyone prepared their weapons. Glenn and Noah shared worried looks while Hershel, who seemed to be taking Rick's advise of sacrificing for the group, readily raised his gun. The knob of the bar door began to twist.

"Shit! Lamebrains!" a panicked voice outside shouted as rounds of gunfire began shooting into a mass of Walkers. The man whose hand held the door cursed and ordered the three to return to the car. Rick sighed in relief, motioning for everyone to find the back exit.

* * *

Mica's ears perked up as he heard a car traveling down the dirt road towards the farm house. He yawed and got up, forcing the two who were laying against him to reposition themselves. Roe watched as Mica stretched, wondering why he had gotten up suddenly. She looked down the road and saw headlights. She smiled and she motioned to Carl who was seated beside her. Carl stood and met the car at the front along with everybody else who saw it roll in.

"Mom!" he said as he embraced her and she planted a loving kiss on his head.

"Oh my God! Are you alright? What happened?" Andrea asked as she saw Lori's state. Her hair was thoroughly tousled and blood seeped from her forehead, a result from her car accident before.

"I'm fine," Lori answered, "Where's Rick?"

Everyone looked at her confused since Rick and the others have yet to return. Lori, realizing this, turned angrily to Shane. "You said he would be here!"

"I had to keep you safe. I had to make sure the baby was alright," Shane defended, accidentally revealing to everyone Lori was pregnant.

"You're having a baby?" Carl asked surprised, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Lori stumbled, at a loss for words. Carl looked down sadly.

"Come on," Kathryn said, leading Lori inside as Roe and Mica did the same for Carl. Inside, Lori apologized to her son as her wounds were taken care of. Carl smiled back, "It's okay, I wasn't scared."

"When is Dad getting back?" he added a few moments later.

Lori looked down, "Let's hope soon."

* * *

"This way," Hershel led them, peering out the back door, finding it clear of any Walkers. As they made their way through, they heard the other men's car roar back to life.

"No! Hey! Wait for me!" someone yelled, but was too late as the car drove away with the two other occupants.

"Fuck!" the man groaned, his voice cracking. He fired more rounds into Walker heads, backtracking his steps until there was the familiar creak of the porch boards.

Rick turned to his group. "Go! Find a different car and hotwire it!"

Rick went to the other side of the bar and threw open the door, severely startling the man in front who turned his gun on him. Rick pushed the gun away from his head and wrapped his other hand around the man's mouth to keep his shouts muffled. Rick dragged the younger man into the bar and closed the door as Walkers stumbled up the stairs and began banging on the door and windows.

The man pulled Rick's hand off him and took a few steps back. "Who are you?"

Rick ignored the question and started moving to the other end of the bar. "Follow me."

"What?" he said, but followed anyways until he saw the bodies of his former comrades. "Oh my God! You killed Tony and Dave!"

Rick paused but did not turn back, "They drew on us first."

"Fuck!" the other said exhausted, not having time to even take this into consideration as Rick already began walking ahead again and he preferred that he wasn't left alone again.

"Rick!" Noah called as he saw Rick emerge from the bar with the other in tow. "The car's this way."

Everyone got in silently as Glenn began driving back to the farm. The stranger shifted uncomfortably in-between Noah and Rick. "Where are we going?" he spoke up.

All eyes turned to him, as if just remembering his presence. Glenn turned to Rick, slowing down. "Rick?" he asked unsurely.

Rick looked to Glenn, then at the young man who couldn't even be over twenty. Rick met Hershel's gaze as he went with the first thing that popped in his mind.

"Hershel, give me your tie," Rick ordered. Hershel nodded, understanding what he was going to do. As Hershel undid his tie, Rick pulled out a pair of handcuffs, slapping them on the man's wrist before he could even process what was going on.

"H-Hey! Wait!" he protested.

"I'm sorry," Rick apologized, bringing the cloth around his eyes and tying it on the back of his head.

"Keep going," he told Glenn.

"Look, I'm not a threat!"

"We can't take the chance," Rick explained..

"What are you going to do with me?" he whimpered, the day's events taking their toll on him. It started out with a simple 'recover supplies' mission. Dave and Tony went ahead into town while the he and the others took a different part of town. When Dave and Tony missed the rendezvous, they went out looking for him, except Dave and Tony were dead and the town was swarmed with Walkers. And finally, he was left for dead before being saved and then kidnapped by the very men who killed his comrades.

Randall waited for an answer, but was met with only the quiet.

* * *

A few days later after the Randall incident, Rick and Shane had gone out to release him while everyone else went through their daily routine.

Kathryn looked up as she heard a cough beside her. Victoria stood nearby, obviously trying to get her attention, however, didn't make eye contact. Kathryn raised an eyebrow at her friend's unusual behavior. She put down the book she was reading and looked up, "Yes?"

Victoria, now having received Kathryn's full attention, grabbed the girl's wrist and led her away to a more secluded area, slumping down against the trunk of a tree. Kathryn, again, raised an eyebrow as she calmly seated herself beside her. "Is something the matter?"

Victoria looked away again, but Kathryn managed to catch a light blush across her cheeks.

"What was it like with you and Zach?" Victoria hesitated. Maybe she should've asked Lori or Maggie, whose lovers were still breathing, but she could barely bring herself to ask Kathryn.

Kathryn flinched at the name, memories of their time together passing through her head. She pushed them away, the sight of him and a genuine smile on her face causing too much pain. She forced her mind to other things, a devilish smirk replaced her frown as she repeated Victoria's question in her head. "I knew it! You like Daryl!"

"Shut up!" Victoria shouted, flashing a heated glare at the brunette. "I don't know yet."

"Well why are you thinking that?"

Victoria hesitated again, "We kissed…"

Kathryn gawked. "That's it?! Jesus, I wouldn't have taken either of you as just a kiss person. Was it at least making out?"

"God!" Victoria groaned, regretting choosing to talk to Kathryn. Maybe this was a bad idea…? She got up from her place, ready to end the conversation.

"No! No! Wait!" Kathryn apologized, pulling her back down. "It's just that both of you are such badasses, I thought when it happened, it would go further."

"_When_ it happened?" Victoria caught.

"Oh please, I saw that coming a mile away," Kathryn teased, making Victoria groan again.

"Would you just tell me if I like him or not?" Victoria asked in irritation, her blushing self long gone.

"Well did it fell good? Like the butterflies and fireworks and shit?" Kathryn asked plainly.

'_Better,' _Victoria thought.

"It felt nice."

"Well you poor thing. You like him," Kathryn said uncharacteristically, her joyful teasing replaced by a sinking feeling as her last days with Zach resurfaced.

"Great," Victoria said sarcastically. Having gotten her answer, Victoria stood up again. Kathryn gripped her wrist before she could leave. Not looking at her, she expressed her worries. "Maybe it's best you get over him. Before something bad happens."

Kathryn stood up then and left, leaving Victoria to puzzle over things.

* * *

Daryl strode up to the Atlanta group's camp stationed outside the Greene home. Eyes turned to him and Daryl quickly hid his bloodied fist which he used as a tool to get information from the captured teenager, who they were unable to free the last time as he was suspected of knowing the location of the farm.

"Boy's got a gang with him and they ain't looking to make friends. If they roll through here, they'll kill the men. And the women," Daryl paused, looking at Victoria who quickly avoided his gaze. "They'll wish they were dead."

"Absolutely no one goes near this guy, understood?" Rick commanded.

"What are you going to do?" Lori asked.

Rick faltered before making up his mind. "We have no choice. He's a threat. We have to eliminate the threat."

"You're just going to kill him?" Dale immediately stepped in, aghast that this was the conclusion Rick had reached.

"It's settled," Rick dismissed, walking away, although Dale followed closely, determined to change his mind.

* * *

"Gather up," Rick said as everyone piled into the Greene living room while Beth and her boyfriend watched the kids in a separate room. The room was tense as everyone knew what this meeting was about.

"So, what? We take a vote?" Kathryn asked nonchalantly.

"Let's just see where everyone stands," Rick said. As soon as he did, Shane wasted no time in agreeing with the execution, followed by Dale who quickly put up a protest. Benny snarled as Shane continued his accusation of what Randall could do.

"Well since Shane is for execution, I can tell clearly what the wrong choice is," Benny spat, implying that Shane always chose the worst decision. "I'm with Dale."

"Guess all of us are wrong then, huh?" Daryl mocked as he crossed across the room, closer to Shane.

"I can say I'm not surprised by some of your decisions," Benny patronized, looking around the room for Victoria, Kathryn, and Andrea.

Kathryn scoffed, "I'm just choosing the smartest decision."

Benny began a remark but was interrupted by Dale. "Please, is anyone else with us?"

He was met with downcast looks. Eventually, Roe rose from the ground, timidly going to stand beside Benny and Dale while Mica trotted over with his master. Dale gave her a grateful look while Benny patted the girl on her head. He looked up again, his eyes reflecting a small hurt as they met with the most fabulous pair of green he'd ever seen, "Carol?"

She whimpered, "I'm sorry. Any of you, make the decision. But I don't want anything to do with this."

"Not speaking out or killing him yourself, there's no difference," Dale argued.

"Alright, that's enough," Rick raised his hand in a final motion. "Anyone who wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance."

Once again, everyone looked down again. Roe looked around with the same anguish as Benny and Dale. "No," she said as tears began to form in her eyes.

Her one word seemed to finalize the guilt in everyone as they all sunk further in their seat; however, still none changed their mind.

"Roe, don't you think this is better?" Noah asked. "He's dangerous, especially to you."

"My. Age," Roe's voice wavered as she said this. Noah let out a troubled sigh as he sat back down ashamed of his decision, but sticking with it anyways.

The room continued to be silent, prompting Rick to look at the three who lost. Roe clung to Mica as he walked out the front door with the other two, none of them being able to stand in the room with those who voted against them.

* * *

At night, Shane, Daryl and Rick led Randall into the barn to carry out the consensus.

"Wait! Wait, please!" Randall pleaded, knowing his life was going to end soon. Shane moved him to the center of the barn and began blindfolding him, panicking him all the more. Rick prepared his gun, the sound of the safety coming off, making Randall shout louder. "No! No!"

Shane left him be and backed off as Randall began to blubber and cry, begging for mercy. Rick pressed the barrel of the gun against Randall's head as the man let out an agonized, miserable cry.

"Do it Dad. Do it." Carl said appearing in the doorway. Behind him, were Roe and Mica, who were supposed to be babysitting the boy. Roe looked out to the field, too ashamed that she brought Carl to the execution as a last ditch effort to stop it. She wouldn't dare meet Rick's gaze. Shane glared at her angrily.

"What do you think you're doing?!" He stomped past Carl and seized Roe's wrist roughly, making her yelp in pain. Mica roared threateningly, about to bite Shane's leg should he further hurt his master. Shane ignored the large cat next to him, continuing to yell at Roe.

"Shane! Let her go!" Rick shouted, still pressing the gun against Randall's temple. Shane released Roe, who cradled her injured wrist and resumed her penitent gaze to the ground.

"I'm sorry," she whispered as she started back to the farm house.

Rick watched her go before turning back to his son and suddenly, he could no longer bring himself to pull the trigger. "Take him away."

The others in the room froze in shock. Rick repeated himself, louder this time. Daryl huffed as he vehemently pulled Randall up and brought him back to his makeshift cell while Shane stormed out of the barn, leaving Rick and Carl alone. Rick holstered his gun and led Carl back up to the camp, where Maggie and Noah had joined in the meantime. Everyone sat up immediately, looking at him in anticipation to tell the news of if they were safe or not.

"He's in custody, for now," Rick declared. The group shifted nervously, a mix of relief and fear washing over them. Roe scooted farther away from Rick, her head still hung low as she rubbed her wrist. Lori ushered Carl inside a tent upon seeing her husband's troubled look.

"What happened?" she asked. It was meant to be a private conversation, but the two were in the middle of the group and spoke loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Roe led him to the barn. He encouraged me to do it. He wanted to watch…I couldn't," Rick said. Lori took this in, before spinning on her heel towards Roe.

"You did what?!"

Dale, who had overheard, moved beside Roe, putting a protective arm before her. Roe felt regret consume her again, opening her mouth to speak, but was cut off by Lori.

"We trusted you to watch our child!"

"I-," Roe began, but cowered away. She looked down again. "His idea. Already went. Tried to stop."

"You still shouldn't have led him there!" Lori finished angrily, now upset after learning her son, was in fact the one who went to the barn himself. She was unsure just how much Roe had tried to stop him, but as far as she was concerned, it wasn't enough.

Roe looked up now, seeing Lori walk off to cool down. Her eyes caught Rick's. He nodded at her, himself now also knowing the truth of what happened.

"Noah, could you get her wrist wrapped up?" Rick asked.

Noah looked at Roe, surprised she got hurt. "Yeah."

He put his hand on the small of her back as he led her gently back to the house, Mica lazily following behind. Noah led her into the kitchen where he pulled out a first aid.

"Can you give me your wrist?" he asked. Roe took her hand from behind her back, where she had been hiding it. Noah looked at it in shock. Her wrist was already bruised in the distinct shape of a hand. Noah grit his teeth angrily, knowing only one person who would ever be so violent. _'Shane.'_

He glared at her bruises as he wrapped them up, directing his anger into clenching his teeth as his hands were preoccupied and needed to be delicate. He needed to make sure he didn't accidentally create bruises of his own by clenching his fists.

"There," he said when he finished, putting the medical supplies away. "Don't stress it, ok? Be careful."

Roe gave him a small smile as thanks and nodded, turning back and retrieving Mica from the porch and returning to the campfire.

* * *

The next day, Carl wandered into the woods with Daryl's gun in his pocket. He trudged through angrily, upset with his father's decision the night before. Ashe kicked a tree, a growl echoed through the trees. Carl immediately froze in fear as he scrambled for his gun. He hid behind a tree and peeked out, spying two Walkers trapped in a swamp. After hesitating, Carl stepped out allowing himself to be seen by one. The Walker growled and swiped for him, despite being meters away.

Carl laughed at its sad attempt and stepped closer until he was right in front of it. The leaner of the two growled and reached for Carl. In turn, Carl only watched as the Walker struggled to get him. The other Walker on the other hand, was facing the other way and had yet to notice the young boy. Carl searched the ground and threw it at the head of that Walker, trying to get its attention.

Carl angrily turned to the other Walker after missing the taller in ripped overalls. "Shut up!" he yelled and hit it in the face with another rock, however, the Walker continued on. Carl grumpily threw another rock, this time succeeding in hitting the larger Walker. Although its body had gotten stuck in the mud facing the opposite direction, it was still able to fully face Carl because of the extreme lack of guts in its abdomen. Carl's eyes widened as he laid eyes upon the Walker. He stared back at its glossy eyes and darted back in the direction of the farm, disgusted and shocked by who he saw.

* * *

Carl huffed as he ran back to camp. Roe, Lori, and everyone else sighed in relief as they spotted him.

"There you are! Where did you go? Why did you leave Roe's side?" Lori exclaimed, instinctually checking her son for any cuts as any mother would. She had also forgiven Roe after eventually reaching the conclusion that most of the events were Carl's doing.

Carl continued to breathe heavily. Lori pulled his chin to her, making him face her. "Carl, baby. What happened?"

"The man from the pictures!" Carl said between pants.

"Sweetheart, that doesn't make sense," Lori chided. By now, everyone had gathered around him, in concern for their younger member.

"The man who saved me! Otis!"

* * *

A/N: So you know that joke I made last chapter…? It got worse! This is really…such an overdue update…. I'm pretty sorry…

Uhm, so what'd ya think of my cliffy? ;D Yes, I fucking went there. Shane is in such deep shit muahahahaha! And one more chapter before I finish season 2! :)

Comments:

Twisted Mythology: Lol I think I can always tell it's you by the avatar ^^ Raven is the best! Haha, thank you! I'm glad you like your OC ^.^

Stefan's Little Vampire: Thanks for your review! It was nice to see yours again ^.^ Don't worry, Shane has a whole lot of hell coming his way;)

Kol Mikaelsons Girlx: Thank you! :) I'm sorry for the late update:(

Always Dean's Girl: Lol so uh, did this Victoria and Kathryn scene make you upset haha? Because I know you disliked the Merle and Daryl scene, it's almost similar isn't it? ;} And oh, I think I took my time alright:P D:

The Salvatore Winchester: I'm sorry! .

Rose


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